RWBY: The Second Step
by Leviticus Wilkes
Summary: What would Volume Two of RWBY be like if a fan wrote it? Two weeks after the events of Black And White, Teams RWBY and JNPR are still training, but little do they know that they are about to be thrust into a war greater then any that has ever came before. Art by Ttran2323. First in the Wilkes RWBY-verse. Canon-compliant, with all likely ships.
1. Episode 1: Duel

**The Second Step: Chapter 1**

**Duel**

**A/N: Well, lets see if you people like this. If this story is well received, I may just keep writing.**

**However, a few things first:**

**One: This is a continuation of RWBY. It is done in the style of Monty Oum, does not contradict the canon of season one at any point, and relies heavily on extrapolation from the existing canon or where that fails, fan consensus on what should occur. You can more or less consider this RWBY Season 2.**

**Two: I have no intention of supplementing the actual canon. Once Season Two comes out, you can more or less consider this entire story and any stories based off of it non-canonical.**

**Three: THIS IS NOT A TYPICAL RWBY FANFIC! This fanfiction has no overarching plot or main arc, it is merely a series of mini arcs that focus on completing the characterization and backstories for teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL, along with other characters. In later stories (and there will be later stories) I will write in a more serialized style, but for right now, I just want to gift the characterization and back stories for Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Yang, and CRDL. Other characters will appear, with Original Characters, both created by myself and borrowed from my friend Ttran2323, present. Bear in mind, I am working very hard to avoid Mary Sue's and people blatantly stronger than Canon.**

**And that is all I have to say about that.**

**Note: This fanfiction does not represent the canon of RWBY. Furthermore, I Agent Washington, can attest that the writer does not own RWBY, Roosterteeth, or any Intellectual Property associated with Roosterteeth. Special thanks to Ttran2323 for beta reading this and H'te Rarpee for being my test audience, this story wouldn't be its high quality without them.**

* * *

_"Sorry kiddo."_

_"WHERE'S MY MOM!?"_

* * *

(Monday)

RINGRINGRINGRINGRING-SLAP!

Ruby groaned as she shut off her alarm clock and pulled her pillow over herself, shutting out the light. The cool softness of the pillow brought her morning exhaustion welling back up. She started to drift off again…

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" Yang ripped Ruby's blankets off her bed, pulling the poor girl off with them. Ruby groaned again, getting back into the rhythm of sleep. Just a few more hours. Please? Somebody? Anybody? Ugh.

Ruby pulled herself off the floor. Above her, Team RWBY was already getting into the full swing of the day. Yang was back to cooking, Blake was in her bed reading, and Weiss was yelling about how her clothes kept getting mixed in with Jaune's. Ruby herself was soon dressed up and raiding the fridge for milk when she saw it.

Creamy white frosting. Delicious red and gray highlights. Succulent sweet strawberries. It was… HER BIRTHDAY CAKE!

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou." Ruby flashed over to her older sister and was hugging her like it was going out of style, disregarding her sisters plea's to stop and let her put down the hot frying pan. "Is the first really that close!?"

"Well, Yeah, Ruby. Put me, Down, Please." Yang was summarily dropped by her younger sister and allowed to inhale. "It's just this Sunday. But you'll have to wait until then for your cake Ruby. Mwuh ha ha ha ha!" Yang laughed at her sisters food invoked agony. "Just imagine those delicious, scrumptious, sensuously chocolate coated strawberries, all wrapped up in that velvety cream and toppings, all for you- and you can't have it!" Yang gloated over her sister, while Blake tried to figure out if the scene before her was more suited to Make Out Paradise or Ninja's Of Love, and Weiss tried to keep herself from yelling or laughing at their antics.

Alas, for the luck of the cake, and Ruby's sixteenth birthday party, the warning bell rang not a moment later. What followed was the throwing of clothing on and food into mouths, and a mad dash to Oobleck's history class.

Yes, just the beginnings of another peaceful day for Team RWBY in Beacon academy. Well, not really. If it was peaceful, I'd be out of a job.

* * *

"I'm telling you Weiss, red is the new black."

"Then pray tell Ruby, why do you wear black?"

"Because black is awesome. Why do you wear white?"

"My coat fades into blue, and has a red lining. The balance between these elements improves my appearance overall. You just have solid black and red tonalities, you don't have any gradation, your appearance is too…differential."

"…I think it looks nice."

"I lost you didn't I?"

And here folks, is where Weiss's social refinement goes up against Ruby's, err, lack thereof. The pair had been separated after Oobleck's class and had met back up for their lunch hour. Now they were heading back to their dorm.

"Maybe around the part about balance."

Weiss groaned. "Color balance is very important for clothing. It can be the difference between the identification as a prim and proper young woman such as myself, and, ugh, you."

Ruby looked hurt. "What's wrong with me?"

"For one, your clothing. It doesn't have color gradation. For another, your attire overall is skewed to the left. It sends all the wrong signals."

Ruby perked up a touch. "So, nothing important then."

Weiss's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets, as if the mere concept that your appearance was meaningless was alien. She just put a cold fist to her forehead and counted back from ten. "No Ruby. Nothing important at all."

The two girls walked on in silence, Weiss enjoying the lull in the conversation. If there was something you came to appreciate after spending time with Ruby, it was-

"Hey Weiss?"

-silence.

(Huff) "Yes Ruby?"

Ruby twiddled her thumbs, for once uncharacteristically abashed. "Well, you know, I was wondering..."

"Yes?"

"Why do you change in the bathroom?"

Weiss blinked. Ruby gave a little grin. The grin practically screamed; "I can't believe I just said that."

Weiss rested her hand on her forehead. Sometimes Ruby was insufferable, and sometimes she was plain mad. "Why, do you, need to know?" She bit out.

Ruby shrugged, now committed. "I don't. I just want to know. We've been sleeping in the same room for three months now, and we haven't once changed in the same room. Don't you trust us?"

"Well, yes. I'm a proper lady."

"Why does that mean? You think we're all boys?" Ruby smirked at the reaction she invoked in her teammate.

"No. Not at all. I'm, I'm, modest." Weiss gestured to herself. "I've spent years refining myself. I'm just modest."

Ruby cocked her head quizzically. "Oh come on. Me, Yang and Blake are fine with it."

Weiss subtlety twitched. 'Am i really having this conversation in broad daylight?' To Ruby though, she said, "You three can do whatever you want. I just prefer my modesty."

"But it'll help you bond with us."

"Thank you, but no thank you. Now can we stop talking about this Ruby?" Weiss folded her arms, indicating the end of the conversation.

"Oh come on."

Indicating the end of the conversation to anyone but Ruby. "Please stop talking about this Ruby. It's not something you talk about in public."

Ruby blinked. Then; "You have never been to Mistral have you?"

Weiss shrugged. "No."

Silence returned. Weiss enjoyed it, for however long it lasted. In fact, it would end in exactly three, two, one...

"You wanna fight?"

Weiss rose an eyebrow. Come again?"

"Do you want to fight?" Ruby had that look in her eye. Not the 'I know how to kill that Nevermore' look or even her 'let's paint our nails' look, but her 'I have a great bad idea' look. "We'll fight. We'll blow off steam. You know, just some fun practice. We have some time before our next classes, so we can really go to town on each other. What do you say?"

Weiss thought about it. The chance to fight Ruby, and show off her skills. It took all of her will to not smile. She hadn't always liked Ruby, but Ruby had become her close friend after a few months. Weiss tried to tolerate her friends antics, and Ruby tried to tone down her silliness when she was with her. And in the end, the two had become friends.

Not that that stopped Weiss from saying yes.

* * *

Training ground 343 was selected. It was a large, enclosed building with six enormous lights hanging from the ceiling. On the side was a concrete floor. On the floor Ruby took out three magazines and Weiss had some of her private supply of Dust. The duo had agreed to go on the tick of the hour. The clock rolled down. A handful of Hunters in training had agreed to stand aside and watch.

Weiss finished loading rounds of Dust into Myrtenaster. Ruby locked a magazine into Crescent Rose and chambered a round. The clock ticked down towards one in the afternoon. "Last chance to back out Weiss."

"What?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. "We're fighting for the fun of it. Why would I back out?"

"No reason. I just always wanted to say that." Ruby smiled. "Oh and by the way."

Weiss looked at the clock. It struck one on the dot. "Let me guess. This." Weiss twirled and filled the air with Dust. An application of her semblance filled glyphs with the water Dust. In less then a second, six bolts of Dust slammed loose.

Ruby dodged in a surge of movement and retaliated with a shot from Crescent Rose. The round actually hit home, but Weiss's Aura negated the damage. The two struck at the same time, Weiss releasing a surge of flames and Ruby charging fast enough to rocket through the fire.

Their blades clashed with a flourish of sparks. Ruby stopped just behind Weiss and swung her scythe. Weiss half turned and sidestepped, dodging the long armed blow. She stepped into Ruby's radius of attack and with a flash thrust at Ruby's shoulder, only for it to stop dead at her opponents Aura.

Ruby moved like lightning, vanishing and reappearing at the opposite end of their battleground. _'I can't get too close.'_ A swing buried Crescent Rose into concrete. Ruby aimed and pulled the trigger, reloaded and pulled the trigger. Weiss coated the ground in slick black ice and started skating like a pro, constantly adjusting her speed and direction to dodge Ruby's bullets.

"Stop moving!" Ruby shouted.

"Why should I?" Weiss retaliated. A glyph filled behind her and sent her rocketing towards Ruby. The red girl barely removed Crescent Rose from the ground to parry the blow, but a riposte was met with only thin air as Weiss hurtled up and over.

Ruby used her semblance, Acceleration, to close the gap and tried to land a blow. But Weiss didn't consider herself close to perfect because she couldn't dodge. Every step Ruby took forward was a carefully measured step back for Weiss. A blast of acid Dust ate away the ground between them, and one step was a step too far. Ruby tripped forward and only just saved herself from falling face first on to the ground.

That was all the time Weiss need for a devastating blow to the head that took out almost half of Ruby's Aura. Ruby gasped in surprise, feeling the force behind the strike, and reacted with a swing of Crescent Rose that sent Weiss sprawling.

Squeezing the sniper-scythe's trigger, Ruby cleared away from her friend and paused to think. 'There has to be someway to stop her. The moment she sees me, she'll tear me, wait! If, she sees me.'

Ruby loaded another round and blasted out a light. Then another, and another. Six blasts shattered the bulbs and plunged the room into darkness.

Ruby pulled the magazine from Crescent Rose and replaced it. Weiss would need to use Dust to use her sword in a ranged attack, and that would mean that her sword would light up and expose her. Then, all Ruby would need to do was aim.

For a moment, silence was the only thing that existed in the room. Then...

"Oh Ruby." Weiss sang. Ruby raised her eyebrow. "Want to know something?"

Something pricked her back. Ruby's eyes widened. '_How_?'

"I can see you." Ruby ran halfway across the room and straight into a wall. Ruby rubbed her head in pain. Suddenly, a glyph appeared underfoot, activating and sending Ruby flying.

Weiss activated her Formic semblance, lines of hard light spiraling around Ruby and encircling her and forming another glyph. Ruby reacted and this time, she cleared the circle of light before it went off.

In the dark, Weiss tracked Ruby. It was phenomenally easy to lead the girl, but she didn't expect her ruse to last long.

Sure enough, leaping from another glyph, Ruby saw the faint outline of its castor. 'Got you.' Ruby planted Crescent Rose, sparks flying as she ground to a halt. That little maneuver gave her an idea.

Ruby leapt at Weiss's last known location and swung Crescent Rose, the blade sparking across the ground. In the faint blackness, Weiss's legs became visible, her eyes glowing an unnatural blue from the Aura pulsing through her body. Ruby swung Crescent Rose blindly, using sparks and her pole arms greater length to try for contact. A blue glyph appeared below her.

"Not this time!" Ruby tapped into her semblance and swung her blade with a vengeance. In a surge of force, Weiss was sent flying as her opponents blade caught her midriff.

A beeping could be heard as Weiss's Aura pool finally dropped into the red. The match was over, Ruby had won.

A helpful huntress used her Aura to conjure a flame in her hand as another turned on the spare lights. Ruby smiled as she pulled Weiss to her feet. "Not bad. Really made me sweat." Ruby smile shrunk to something friendlier. "Let's do that again sometime, okay."

Weiss brushed off her friends hand and grabbed Myrtenaster. She thoroughly ignored her friend, and only glanced at the clock. The clock read 1:23.

"We need to go Ruby. We're going to be late to Port's remedial Aura class." Ruby kept on chatting as they left the room, Weiss struggling to maintain her composure and stop herself from lashing out at her friend.

Losing had been a big blow to her, and it wasn't something she intended to repeat.

* * *

Remedial Aura class

Professor Port went through role call. "Team CRDL?

"All present."

"Are Luke Timijin and Alex Mace of Team FAIL present?"

"Yes sir."

"Natalie Night and Garnett Ginger of Team GENY?" Natalie Night shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"Eh, Garnett isn't here. I don't know where he is." Professor Port went down his class roster and marked a dash next to Garnett's name. The bell still hadn't rang to signal the end of the passing period, and he was teaching a remedial class anyway. The boy could afford a moment of lateness, as long as he arrived before the lesson actually started. He continued down the list.

"Jaune Arc and Nora Valkyrie of Team JNPR?" No answer. Port looked over at where the two typically sat and only saw empty seats. He marked them as absent. "Team-."

Ruby and Weiss burst in, panting from the run. "Are (gasp) are we late (gasp) or something?"

"No Madame. You and your friend are right on schedule." Port marked them as present. "Please take your seats and be ready to take notes." The duo scrambled to their seats. Weiss pulled out her notes and a pencil and reviewed her notes as the bell rang. Port finished the roll call with team VALR and began the lesson.

"As we covered yesterday, there are seven classes of semblance; Spotters that can improve their senses, Camo's that can hide their souls from the Grimm, Accelerators that can alter their inertia at will, Formics that can shape solid but weak objects out of their Aura, Metaburners that can regenerate limbs and set fires, Polari that control magnetism, and Leechers that can absorb Aura and use them or move them to others. But we did not cover the semblance signature."

"Semblance signatures are distinct traits of someone's Aura. They do not seem to perform any specific tasks, but are unique to every user of Aura. For example, my semblance signature is lightning." Port folded in on himself and exploded outward ripping his shirt off and Roaring! Lightning crashed! Thunder boomed! The room shook! "Look upon this glorious visage of manhood and tremble!"

Everyone stared at the shirtless Professor.

"...Maybe you're not ready for that." Port went to his desk and pulled out one of a dozen spare shirts. For those of you wondering, he needed a dozen shirts in his desk to replace the shirts he tore on a daily basis. "Now, why don't we see some of your signatures. Any volunteers?"

The class gradually went through the meat grinder of demonstrations. Ruby raced around and covered the room with Rose Petals. Weiss formed a glyph and let it dissolve into white feathers. Argentine covered the roof with her formic Aura and let red rain fall. Cardin Winchester eventually came up and filled the room with golden cracks. Each demonstration was met with Port's approval and a light clap from the class.

Weiss went through her notes as the class proceeded, noting some potential uses for signatures such as indicating when someone had run out of Aura and other general notes. Professor Port looked at the clock, and nodded to himself. "Well class, it seems to be that we have run out of time. Please hand in your essays on Aura and Aura related death at the door."

The class shuffled out and turned in their papers. Weiss put away her notes and set off towards her next class, only to be stopped when Ruby called her over. "Uh, Weiss, could you, you know, lend me your notes? Please?" Ruby gave her teammate and friend a puppy dog eye stare that didn't really do anything, but Weiss handed over her notes anyway. Because that's what friends do for each other.

And speaking of what friends do for each other...

"Hey Weiss, where do you think Jaune and Nora are?"

"I don't know Ruby."

Ruby grinned to herself. "Well, let's go find them then!"

Weiss groaned as Ruby dragged her off on another run around. So much for a bit of peace and quiet after class.

* * *

**A/N: I can't believe it! Chapter one, is done! Here's to you RWBY and Roosterteeth for making me want to write again!**

**Be kind, rewind and review.**


	2. Chapter 2: Hero's Pyre Part 1

**The Second Step: Chapter 2**

**Hero's Pyre: Part 1**

**A/N: Well, I am I enjoying this particular chapter. The following nine chapter don't focus on Team RWBY though, and are more focused on finishing the characterizations of tema JNPR and CRDL. Don't worry, the latter are still jerks, they just get a couple of chapters to knock some sense into them.**

**HELLO RED ARMY! I, YOUR SARGEANT, AM HERE TO INFORM TOU THAT WE HAVE SOMETHING THAT THOSE DIRTY STINKING BLUES CANNOT! WE. DON'T. OWN. THIS. WEB. ANIMATION!**

* * *

"Come on team! We only have three weeks until the Tournament. Just four more laps!"

Pyrrha ran backwards as Nora and Ren staggered to a halt, gasping for breath. Pyrrha tried to put on a brave face. If this was what she had to work with, they weren't making it past the semis. Speaking of what she had to work with...

"Eh, where's Jaune?" The J of JNPR was missing.

Nora caught her breath as much as she could, reached behind her back and pulled out a telescope From her hammer pocket. She scanned the track and pointed out a flat, black and blue mass near turn three. The three walked/staggered to the unmoving young man and tried to rouse him.

Jaune groaned into the rubber track. "Mommmm, I don't want to take those... oranges." Jaune received a stout and gentle nudge on the side and finally stood up. "All right, (gasp) all right. Let's go." He took off at a light jog... And fell over again.

Pyrrha and Nora pulled their fearless leader up from the track, despite his protests. "Okay Jaune, maybe that's a little much. Let's get inside."

"I'm good. (Gasp) I can keep going." Jaune shook them off and took off again, but only made it three steps before stopping himself. "All right, as (gasp) team leader, I call a vote. (gasp) All in favor of the dorm."

"Aye."

"Floop floop."

"We need to rest."

Jaune finally caught his breath and turned to go home. Velvet Scarlatina raced by, carrying her weapon like everyone else on the track. Jaune turned to Ren. "Okay, what was that? Four? Five?"

"That is the seventh time she's lapped us. Suffice to say, Velvet has surpassed all expectations of her physical capabilities."

Pyrrha twitched. "You don't need to talk like that you know. We're just running."

Ren cocked an eyebrow. "I would imagine that we need to focus on maintaining a certain level of professionalism. We are, after all, carrying military grade weaponry at a military school."

"That's right Ren, but we're at a school. That means we should be focusing on our friends and learning and meeting hot new guys. Not that you're not a hot guy, I mean, you're good looking, but I mean hot new guys as in new hot guys. You know, new people, you know." Nora put in her two dollars.

Up ahead, a knife landed in front of Velvet. Then it exploded.

"Can't believe it. I missed!"

"I can believe it. You're the worst knife thrower I've ever seen Russel."

"Shut up Sky."

Well, lo and behold, the R and L of team CRDL, Russell Thrush and Sky Lark. Being assholes as usual.

"Leave her alone you two." Pyrrha and Ren got between them and Velvet. "Seriously, what is your deal with her?"

Russell chuckled. "It's fun. Why wouldn't we?" Sky nodded in agreement. "Besides, why should you care? What's your deal with her?"

"Just because you think it's fun to turn her into your personal rag doll doesn't mean that we'll just stand back and let you attack her." Pyrrha's hand went to Milo. Ren pulled out his StormFlowers. Jaune and Nora got with the party at that point.

"Guys, guys, just wait okay." Jaune put himself between both groups. "We don't want to fight. Just walk away guys." Velvet slipped behind Jaune, but Pyrrha, Nora and Ren didn't move from their spots. Jaune put his focus back on Sky and Russell. "We don't want to fight, but if you two think you can get away with this, you'll answer to me."

"And-."

"They will answer to all of us." Ren overrode Pyrrha. "The only way we can teach them this lesson is to beat it into them."

Pyrrha twitched.

"YEAH!" Shouted Nora. Magnhild unfolded behind her back. "Lets break some fingers!"

The assembled sweat dropped. "Eh, are you feeling alright, you two?"Jaune asked.

Nora smiled. "Never better!" Ren shrugged.

Sky rolled his eyes. "Freak."

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?" Pyrrha's hands snapped to Miló and Akoúo.

Sky reached for his shotgun. "Freak."

Jaune moved right between Pyrrha and Sky at the last minute, bringing his aura to bear and grabbing and stoping both of them at the last second. "Lay off, both of you. Please."

Pyrrha and Sky stared at each other for a moment. _'Did I, really just do that?'_ Pyrrha thought. Doubt overcame her, an uncharacteristic thrill of fear coursing through her veins. She'd nearly gotten her team into a fight!

Sky himself shook Jaune's hand off himself and stepped back, fending off Jaune with upraised arms. "Let's get out of here Russell."

"But-."

"Just go!"

Sky nearly dragged his teammate off the field, leaving team JNPR alone, confused and in the case of Pyrrha, unsettled. Nora looked at their retreating forms, then around herself and her team. "Sorry that they were jerks Velvet."

Velvet, as it turned out, hadn't been hurt, the grenade knife Russel had thrown only being a flash bang. "Thanks for helping me." Velvet smiled a little and turned to keep running. JNPR watched her retreating form for a moment, but neglected tI see what was happening with Pyrrha.

Ren turned and started off. "We're done here. We won."

Pyrrha twitched. She began to shake. She gulped.

Jaune, bless his naïveté, was still holding onto Pyrrha's chestplate and only now let go. However, he knew that something was wrong with her almost instantly. He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Pyrrha, what's wrong?"

Pyrrha couldn't stop the fear that flashed through her. She shook off Jaune's arm and turned away from the group. "I, I just, I need to go."

"Wait-."

Pyrrha bolted, leaving her team behind.

Ren shared a look with Nora. "What the hell was that?"

* * *

_(Four Years ago)_

_Pyrrha slowly came to awareness in her cot. The exhaustion of sleep passed in moments, as adrenaline quietly kicked in. After one unquantifiable period of time, she pulled herself out of her bed. The others had roused themselves to the rising sun, though a handful of her fellows were still asleep._

_She fetched breakfast for herself and after eating, began her morning warm ups. Stretches, a warm up jog indoors, more stretching. What she'd do later that night would depend on what they had ready for her. Would she have a problem with herself... or someone else?_

_"Hello Pyrrha."_

_"Hello Nestor."_

_Pyrrha moved out of the compound and into the sun of the track. The air tingled on her skin, the mid-afternoon sun warming it. Pyrrha pulled out her sword and shield, and moved to the center of the track. Pyrrha ignited her aura and went to work, moving from one stance to the next, incorporating a sword kata from Atlas periodically. Step, strike, step, step, block. Feint low, strike high. Move left, feint, double feint, parry._

_Pyrrha stopped every now and again to check the clock. 8:30 finally rolled around and Pyrrha went to her S.O._

_"Hey Pyrrha."_

_"Hey Bear."_

_Pyrrha moved through the building passing a handful of others, exchanging a number of pleasant greetings. She passed Jason and Lars and quickly reached her S.O.'s office. She knocked, and was presently let in._

_"Good evening Pyrrha."_

_"Good evening Captain Pelias."_

_Captain Pelias fished out a file from his desk and handed to Pyrrha. "We have a... particular problem with this man, Aeson. You, along with Lars and Jason will fix this problem."_

_"Yes sir."_

_It looked like it was time to fix a problem._

* * *

"Come on, she has to be here somewhere."

"Let it go Jaune."

Jaune stopped and looked back at Nora and Ren. The trio had been running up and down the hallways of Beacon for the whole of their lunch period following Pyrrha's... episode. The bell had gone off a moment ago, signaling the end to lunch and the return to class. "We should let Pyrrha vent whatever's in her system. In the meanwhile, we should also be in class."

Jaune winced at the blunt statement. "Ren, I can live with missing a class. But whatever's wrong with Pyrrha is a tad more important then that. Besides, she's our teammate."

"I say we skip class and look for her." Nora chipped in.

"Well, I don't want to miss class, I just want Pyrrha to be alright. I say we put it... to ... a vote." Jaune sweat dropped at the realization that they already had. "Just go Ren. I stay on to look for Pyrrha. You can come back later."

Ren shrugged. "See you after class. Come on Nora."

Nora didn't answer. Ren looked back at where she had been and saw, to his dismay that she was walking after Jaune. "Nora! You need to attend class."

"Bye Ren! I'll see you after we find Pyrrha." Nora started skipping along with Jaune. Ren face palmed and set off after them.

"Okay, I'll come with you. But we have to tell a teacher where we are."

Jaune shrugged. "Sure, later. No."

Ren nearly face faulted. "Then maybe we should stop wandering around and check where she's most likely to be. Our dorm is probably were she went first."

The group checked their dorm, something that they probably should have done in the first place. Unexpectedly though, Pyrrha was not there. Nora started to go through Pyrrha's end of the room, much to the protestations of her teammates.

"Oh come on guys. I'm the only person that can look for clues in her stuff. We have a mystery to solve and no stone should be left unturned." Nora rummaged through Pyrrha's stuff, throwing armor, clothing, bullets and what Pyrrha would insist was a back massager had she been present, hither and far across the room. Ren and Jaune shared a look, turned around and stepped out of the room.

"Okay, we know, that she's not in our room. We know that she left heading here, or at least in this direction. What could be here that she'd want to see?" Jaune twirled his fingers, thinking. Ren waited for him to think it out, then pointed at team RWBY's dorm. Jaune didn't say anything, just knocked.

"..." There was no reply. The door was locked. If Pyrrha was in there, she didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Okay, may I tell a Professor now?"

* * *

___(Four Years ago)_

_Pyrrha leapt from rooftop to rooftop, carefully gauging whether the next jump would force her to roll on the gravel or plant her sword into the wall and climb. Jason and Nestor were moving in behind her, in standard formation. The night air sank around them, chilling the bones and sharpening the mind._

_Pyrrha made another leap, landing on the ledge of the building and racing across the roof, her feet muffled by the rare rubber roofing. Mistral barely stirred below her, the occasional car lighting the distant skyway, the vehicle too rare in this part of the metropolis to warrant the wide roads that would have divided the buildings and slowed her progress._

_Jason landed behind her, pulling out his GPS and gesturing at a nearby roof to detour over. Pyrrha and Nestor changed course and cleared the gap. Jason took a run, but misjudged the distance. He hung on desperately to the ledge, slowly working his way up and finally standing. Pyrrha turned and moved to the next rooftop, aiming to catch up with Nestor, already three rooftops away._

_This pattern had been present and continued for the duration of the trip. Run, jump, roll, climb. Pyrrha enjoyed the simplicity of it, and the inherent complexity of movement that it also necessitated. It was a strange paradox, not unlike what her trainers had drilled into her. The roofs passed far too quickly._

_Nestor and Jason were already on the rooftop, binoculars out and confirming the earlier recon. The plan had been formulated at the compound, and targets were selected, along with paths of entry and exit. Backups and contingencies were established and at the ready. Extraction was in one hour, thirty seven minutes._

_"Set, Synch." Jason said._

_"Synch." Nestor and Pyrrha replied._

_Pyrrha counted down mentally. 'Aaaaand there's the opening.' She and Jason jumped clear of the roof, landing on the road. They sprinted, reaching the gate and using an Aura enhanced leap to clear it. "Door one, clear."_

_The courtyard was well lit, but it had a single alleyway of darkness towards the front door. Pyrrha and Jason shot across the black, moving like living shadows. The minute gap between guards and camera was closing fast, but the differences of light exposure would buy them the required time._

_The two hit the wall below the door, and cleared it with another aura charged jump. One guard was walking away, right on schedule. Pyrrha and Jason separated at this point, moving left and right to the windows. Pyrrha slipped a knife underneath the sill, loosening the lock. A minor application of aura, shifted into Polarity, fooled the magnetic locks hidden in the sill itself. Pyrrha opened the window, stepped through the gap, and set the window back down._

_Pyrrha turned and locked the window from the inside. She moved through the halls, using her watch to time the movement of guards, avoiding sight lines and cameras. The clock slowly wound down, and Pyrrha stalked through the building, moving like the angel of death, unseen, unheard, and-_

_Pyrrha rounded the corner, and was presented with the ever so pleasant image of a guard pissing into a potted plant. Well, here's where the plan breaks down. Pyrrha threw her spear and took him down. "Jason, contact, stage 13." Pyrrha transmitted the warning in all of five seconds. She had to move, now!_

_The alarm went up, Jason revealing his position on the far end of the compound, distracting the guards. Pyrrha had approximately thirty seconds to move through the building and remove the problem. She sprinted, racing through the gaps of the guards, but now ignoring the cameras. Two guards raced through the hallway crossing, Pyrrha hitting the wall to avoid their line of sight. She cleared the hallways and moved through to the room the problem was in._

_From the other side of the door, Pyrrha shifted her aura to her semblance. Pushing magnetic force outward, she detected the individual metallic elements in the room. Magnetism was an incredibly versatile semblance. One possible application of magnetism; endowing someone's tooth implants with a positive magnetic charge, and then imbuing the steel frame of a desk with a positive magnetic charge. Then simply ratcheting up either charge by several hundred times to achieve an incredibly crude nail gun._

_The result; no more problem._

* * *

Pyrrha ran, placing as much distance between herself and Beacon Academy as possible. She sped through the grounds and down one of the many narrow paths that ran between the school and the Emerald Forest. Finally, Pyrrha came to a halt, overlooking the forest from the cliff. Dimly, it occurred to the huntress in training that she wasn't too far from the launch point, where she and the class of '42 had been initiated into the school.

Pyrrha starred out over the forest. In the distance, the wind ruffled the trees, sending red leaves fluttering up the cliff face. Pyrrha tried to get a hold on her emotions. Oh gods, what was happening to her? Was she having a relapse? She hadn't had one in years!

Pyrrha started to seriously go over what had happened to her. Ren had been, probably unintentionally, using several trigger words and phrases. Typically, those didn't bother her, as four years of therapy, family support and the stress-relieving hobby otherwise known as open combat should have left her a very well-adjusted woman.

Actually, come to think of it, that was exactly what she was. While Ren's words would have affected her a little, and the fight might have provoked her, she should have been able to get through the whole thing Maybe a little angry, but in control. Why had she lost control then?

Pyrrha scanned her memories, trying to find the moment when she fell apart. There had been Velvet, then those assholes from Cardin's team, and then they called Velvet a freak and then...

Pyrrha's brain ground to a halt. OH COME ON! How the literal Shade had she nearly went through a relapse from physical contact with Jaune! Sure he was nice. And cute. And a decent guy. And even a good leader. And good looking in a, nonoNO! Pyrrha tried to focus on what went wrong.

Jaune had stopped her and the guy with blue hair from fighting, and after that she had gotten scared that she had almost gotten into a fight. Then she really freaked out, all sorts of memories from the Argonaut Project percolating to the surface and screaming at her that she had to go now.

Pyrrha drew in on herself, trying to figure out what had gone wrong with her. Figuring this out was precedent to everything else.

BANG!

The cliff below Pyrrha exploded, the face closer to the forest crumbling. Out of the dust, a King Taijitu stuck its head out and up, hissing at her. Pyrrha slowly got to her feet, careful not to lose her balance. The snake Grimm slammed itself into the cliff again, shaking the rock and causing large cracks to form underneath and around Pyrrha.

Pyrrha drew Milò and Akoùo, turning to run and getting all of three steps before the King Taijitu slammed its head into the cliff again and send it, and Pyrrha, into the forest below.

* * *

___(Four Years ago)_

_Pyrrha moved with her fellows across the roofs of Mistral, approaching the compound after fixing the problem. The night had been eventful, but overall it had been successful. Pyrrha was satisfied with herself and her fellows, and quite ready to rest._

_Jason cleared a roof, then held up a closed fist. Nestor and Pyrrha came to a halt, both pulling out binoculars. Several dozen people, some armed, others unarmed and dressed in aid uniforms. Pyrrha and Nestor shared a glance that iterated their sense of confusion between themselves. What was happening down there? Was it another test?_

_"Hey, up there!"_

_"There's someone up there!"_

_"Holy crap! Is that more of them?!"_

_A blinding floodlight focused on the trio, as the pop of gun fire filled the air._

_And Pyrrha was falling..._

* * *

Pyrrha landed in the trees, the King Taijitu lunging up at her from the expanding cloud of dust. Pyrrha leapt to the next tree, and then the next and then the next. The serpent plowed through each one, taking them down. Pyrrha hurled herself once more and landed in a heavy and old poplar that survived the first strike. The second shook it to the core though. And the third sent Pyrrha reeling, Akoùo slipping from her grasp.

Pyrrha looked down at her shields shrinking form.

"Oh crap."

* * *

**A/N: And that people, is chapter two. As usual, I have my editors Ttran2323 and H'te Rarpee to thank for helping with this chapter. I couldn't have done it without you two, and I hope all of your enjoy this story.**

**Be kind, rewind and review.**


	3. Chapter 3: Hero's Pyre Part 2

**The Second Step Chapter 3**

**Hero's Pyre Part 2**

**A/N: I like Pyrrha. She's a strong and capable woman, and she deserves everyone's love. She should also fall madly in love with Ren and live happily ever after with five kids. Okay, not really. Again, thanks to my Editors H'te Rarpee and Ttran2323 for their excellent work, and double thanks to Ttran2323 for leasing me his Original Character team.**

**Disclaimer: Meh.**

* * *

Gym room 23:

Blake lashed out with a Shikake Waza, releasing her right grip on her boken and struck with a tsuki. Yang swept her arm up and blocked the strike with her left knight stick. Blake repeated her tsuki. Yang blocked right. Blake repeated once more, and Yang retaliated. Blake stepped forward, and parried the attempted blow down and left.

Yang tilted forward and overbalenced, and a follow up kick to her shin sent her to the ground. Blake delivered a single, hard blow to Yang's neck (summarily blocked by her aura of course), ending the round. Blake helped her teammate to her feet.

"Okay, that was cheating! We agreed that you couldn't use semblances!" Yang crossed her arms, a vein visibly pounding on her forehead. The Faunus girl cocked an eyebrow.

"Trust me, I didn't use my semblance."

Yang shrugged. "Okay girl, say whatever you want. I know what I saw."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Okay, the score is 3:2, my favor." Blake returned to her stance, Yang doing the same four feet away. "Another round?"

Yang smirked. "Two more. One to kick your ass, the other to win."

"So be it. In five, four-"

"Waitupwaitupwaitup!" Team JNPR, Jaune in the lead, burst in to the Gym right then, breaking both girls out of their stances. "Okay. Have you two (huff) seen Pyrrha?"

Blake and Yang shared a look. "Shouldn't she have been out running with you guys? Or in class?"

Ren righted himself and began explaining the situation. Of course, he only made it as far as 'Pyrrha freaked out and ran off', before he was interrupted. "How could she just freak like that? She's like, the best fighter on your team." Blake nodded in agreement.

Ren and Nora shared a glance. Jaune looked positively devastated. "We need to help her, and to do that, we need to find her. Can you help us?"

Yang and Blake shared a glance. "Of course."

* * *

_(Four Years Ago)_

_A continous beeping and the smell of antiseptics filtered through the senses of Pyrrha and into her slowly awakening mind. She was reclined, and could feel a pinch of a needle on the inside of her elbow. The light that flitted through her eyelids was stark white. All of these elements allowed Pyrrha to deduce her location: a hospital._

_Pyrrha twitched her left thumb. She rolled over to her right side, and waited for a reaction. Not a sound reached her ears. Finally, Pyrrha called upon her aura and shifted it to her semblance, concentrating on ascertaining the location of all magnetic objects in the area. Instantly a field of nearly invisible shapes surrounded her. Pyrrha focused on spotting any in motion, seeking out a moving pen, or metal soled shoe._

_She found none._

_Pyrrha opened her eyes and did a scan check of her location. Standard hospital bed, albeit one she was handcuffed to. An IV drip, with a saline solution most likely. Hospital clothing; typical. Blinds were drawn all around her, keeping her private and hidden. All in all, exactly what she expected._

_Pyrrha gave the handcuff an experimental tug. No give from the metal. Pyrrha focused her magnetic power into the handcuff. Some people may have aimed to shift the tumblers in the mechanism, unlocking the handcuff like a key. Pyrrha just broke the actual lock._

_Pyrrha got up from the bed that had been her prison until a moment ago, ignoring the discomfort in her wrist. Slipping through the dividers, Pyrrha made her move, starting out of the room. Her ferric sense humming noiselessly around her, she plotted her way out of the room._

_The room was shrouded by dividers, hiding its contents, but otherwise deserted. Pyrrha ran this fact through her head, and drew a single conclusion. She was in the middle of an assessment. Her S.O. had deliberately staged a kidnapping at the end of her mission, and was almost certainly observing her reactions._

_The door was unlocked, the hallway deserted. Pyrrha started down the halls, avoiding the token 'doctor' that prowled them. Pyrrha passed a couple asleep in a seat. She moved silently down a corridor with red tiles. These facts were duly noted and after it was determined that their relevance was nonexistent, ignored them._

_A door opened up down the hall. Pyrrha shot to the wall, plastering herself flat in the shadows. A little girl walked out and made her way down the hall back to the couple._

_And she looked straight at- "Pyrrha!"_

_Pyrrha lashed out, delivering two stiffened hands to the base of the girl's neck. The little redhead dropped like a fly. Pyrrha took the girl and slung her over her back, fireman style. The girl had recognized her, and some would assume she was actually a contact, though a few particular problem-solving sessions had soiled that particular notion in her mind. Pyrrha placed the girl between the man and woman and examined them. The girls red hair was a shade for shade match with the man. Other then that though, the little girl had no identifying marks with the couple._

_Pyrrha stepped back, then reexamined the family. The woman had a shapely appearance, with high cheek bones and a soft chin. It was... uncanny. She bore a rather striking resemblance to Pyrrha. The red hair of the man and girl was spectacularly similar to her own- scratch that. Pyrrha pulled a lock of hair around her head and compared it to theirs. It was the exact same color, the exact same shade of red. Pyrrha eyed the trio of sleeping people. They were important._

_Who were they to her?_

_"Hey, you shouldn't be... Oh my Lovers." Pyrrha nearly jumped out of her skin. A doctor had rounded the corner and spotted her. She began to plot a way out..._

_The man stirred, roused by the noise of the doctor. Pyrrha started to rethink her plans of escape, only for it to crash and burn at the first words from the man's mouth._

_"Pyrrha? Oh my Lovers, is that you? Honey, Thetis, its' Pyrrha!"_

_"...Oh honey. Pyrrha's right here." Thetis turned in her drowsiness and saw Pyrrha. "P, P,Pyrrha! You're awake!"_

_Pyrrha suddenly found herself stuck in the embrace of two very teary adults. "Oh my baby, we finally have you back. Oh we're never letting out of our sight again." Thetis sobbed into her daughters shoulder. Pyrrha was still wondering what sort of test Pelias was conducting._

_"Excuse me. Excuse me! Please stand aside." The doctor forced the person who claimed to be Pyrrha's father to the side. "Your daughter was held captive and underwent military indoctrination of approximately a decade. She needs to be brought back into normal societal norms slowly."_

_"Excuse me, excuse me sir." Pyrrha brought his and her father's attention to herself again. "You claimed I underwent military indoctrination. What specifically did you mean by that?"_

_The doctor and father shared a look. Thetis detached herself from her daughter and sniffled. "Oh Pyrrha. They took you away from us and hurt you. Oh Lovers, I missed you."_

_Thetis wrapped her arms around Pyrrha again. Pyrrha just tried to figure out what was happening._

* * *

Pyrrha leapt from tree to tree, putting as much distance between herself and the monstrous snake Grimm.

The King Taijitu smashed through the trees, the ones it did avoid crushed as its massive midsection grazed them. Below the leaves, Beowulves gathered after the king of the hunter class Grimm. They sense its purpose. They sense the prey.

Her.

Pyrrha leapt through the trees, trying to put distance between her and the monstrous snake Grimm. She knew that she couldn't run forever, but she only needed to run far enough, and to the right place.

Pyrrha's semblance was simple and rare. Less than ten percent of the population of semblance holding people had Polarity. Pyrrha's was one that was particularly well developed, and it could do what any good magnet could do.

It could generate an electric current.

Several Ursa Minor and an Ursa Major began following the pack of hunters after the Beowulves and the Taijitu. A Quoth, a smaller cousin of the Nevermore, took a swipe at her. Pyrrha didn't pay it any mind. Quoths had a strange inability to see properly while in motion.

Pyrrha focused on the task at hand. She could see her target. She just had to get to... _'aww crap'_.

An entire flock of Quoths were on her tail.

Pyrrha put her legs to the wood and pumped Aura into them. She kicked off, the branch exploding below her. She landed on the next branch and jumped again, another branch left in ruins. The Grimm were gaining. Pyrrha jumped again. She reached her target.

A large open clearing in the forest, free from trees and obstruction to the sky. Pyrrha slowly rotated in air, raising Miló to the sky, almost dead center in the clearing as she began to drop. The sky opened up to her.

Magnetic fields can produce many wonderful effects. They can fool metal detectors, compasses, move metal, and generate electric currents. Additionally, if a ferrous material is subjected to a rapidly rotating magnetic field, and is isolated from a ground, it becomes a capacitor, a battery for high voltage electricity.

And all lightning is, is high voltage electricity that is going to ground.

Lightning surged from Miló, rising like the light of the gods.

* * *

_(Four Years Ago)_

_Pyrrha stared at the papers that her father Pelum had handed her. After four days of observation, exhaustive mental checks, comprehensive physicals and a series of military debriefings she had been cleared for leave. Of course, she was under mandatory observation, and had to attend regular psychological evaluations and therapy._

_The day passed quickly. One minute, Pyrrha was standing in front of her doctor, explaining her terms of release and the reasons for it. Next she was introduced to her therapist, a miss Carter Sosa. Then she was in her fathers car, as he drove her home, blathering on and on about a pack of Beowulves outside Mistral that had recently immigrated to the region as winter set in up to the north._

_And finally, Pyrrha was in her room. Pyrrha assessed herself and her a bag of newly allotted possessions she had received at sometime that had been unimportant. A set of shirts for daily wearing, five in all. Four skirts and three pairs of slacks. Underwear and bed clothing, an over coat and jacket. Three sweaters, wool socks for the approaching winter alongside mittens and a cap. The room itself was was rather cramped for her liking. A bed took up a quarter of the available space and the desk ate up another eighth._

_Pyrrha made a note to remove both of those and turn the room into her personal training ground. If the situation she was in really wasn't a training exercise organized by Pelias, as mounting evidence suggested, Pyrrha would need to be in peak condition for extraction. Aside from the clothing, bed and desk, the only notable additions to the room were a lamp, a calendar marking the date as the ninth, and a notebook with accompanying pencils. Pyrrha racked her brain for its purpose, and drew a blank. The therapist must have mentioned it in a conversation regarding her treatment, this explaining why she repressed the information. She did not expect to attend for an extended period._

_Pyrrha started to unpack, hanging the clothes in the rooms wardrobe or placing them neatly in the dressers drawers. Pyrrha placed the bag in the lowest most drawer and sat down on the bed. She inhaled slowly..._

_...and exhaled. She stood up from the floor and went outside the room, observing the time to be nine o'clock on Thursday the eleventh. Her sister would be attending school at the moment. Pyrrha herself would be attending her first therapy session with the doctor._

_Pyrrha's father, Pelum, was waiting in the car for Pyrrha, smiling and hopeful. On the way, she and Pelum made small talk. She filtered what he said, forming quick bullet points on the major facts of the conversation and supporting info for later reference. When she and Pelum finally reached the office of Dr. Sosa, Pyrrha dropped the supporting information and relegated the main points to a smaller part of her mind. She said goodbye to her father and went in._

_The lobby was empty. Pyrrha checked the time to see how early or late she was and was slightly satisfied to see that she was a half-hour early. It seemed her father was at least a capable chaperone. Pyrrha took a seat and waited._

_Thirty minutes later, Dr. Sosa let her ten o'clock leave and gestured Pyrrha inside her office. "Good morning Pyrrha."_

_"Good morning, Dr. Sosa."_

_The doctor smiled. "Please Pyrrha, call me Carter. I believe that we should start with a complete explanation of what we will be doing here. As you know, these sessions are to assess your mental and psychological states, and determine what treatment, if any, are required. However, I will also be instructing you in the finer aspects of integration and interaction in society. Furthermore, I will try to assist you in coping with the neurosis you have."_

_Pyrrha held up two fingers and ticked them, indicating her wish to speak. "Carter, you stated that I have neurosis. Wouldn't it be more productive to assume that I am neurologically typical and work from that assumption?"_

_Carter smiled again (which Pyrrha cross-referenced with her experience from training and deduced was false) and said, "Under normal circumstances, yes, but as to the extensive mess that your kidnappers have made your childhood, it is easy to postulate that you do, in fact have are neurologically atypical. We can in fact, confirm a hypothesis of mine in that regard. If we may begin?" Carter gestured to a reclined seat in the office, and Pyrrha took the offer. Carter sat down in a secondary, straight-backed chair next to her. "Did your kidnappers impose or require you to adopt a hobby while you were held?"_

_Pyrrha replied. "No."_

_"Did you have any hobbies?"_

_"No."_

_"Were there any specific activities that you enjoyed when you were being held?"_

_"No."_

_Carter spared her clipboard a glance. "When you got home two days ago, what did you do?"_

_"I unpacked."_

_"And after that?"_

_"What I did then wasn't important."_

_Carter made a note on her clipboard. "What did you eat for dinner the night you returned?"_

_"It wasn't important."_

_Carter looked up from her note. "I think it was important. What did you eat?"_

_"Nothing of importance."_

_"What did you eat last night for dinner?"_

_"Nothing of importance."_

_Carter scribbled down a note. Pyrrha's eyes tried to decipher the movements, but was unable to before Carter moved on to the next question. "Did anything important happen today?"_

_Pyrrha nodded. "I had a conversation with my father while we were driving here. We were discussing the recent federal allegations of labor abuse filed against the Schnee Corporation. He said that the Faunus laborers are simply getting restless, though I think that the Schnee's counter arguments on the requirements of production are baseless. They have robots capable of active combat in their employ and only use them to guard their shipments. Meanwhile, Foley's Rifles are using their machines to aid in the production of their firearms. If we have machines capable of assembling weapons, certainly we have the capacity to remove all need for Faunus labor."_

_Carter set her clipboard aside. "Tell me Pyrrha, what are your personal opinions on Faunus?"_

_"My opinions are-"._

_"Not important?"_

_Pyrrha nodded. Carter picked up her clipboard again and set back to writing. The hour passed with scary speed, as Carter asked a number of unimportant questions._

_Finally, Carter set the clipboard aside for the final time. "Well Pyrrha, it seems that we have run out of time. Let's continue this conversation next week, shall we?"_

_"Let's." Pyrrha got out of the seat and left the room. Pelum was sitting in one of the chairs, and was quickly called in by Carter. Pyrrha sat down, and the moment the door was closed, stood back up, and put her ear to the door._

_"Well Mister Nikos, I cannot stress the... uniqueness of this situation. While there is much analysis of how a soldier is 'broken' from the mindset of common civilians, there remains tragically scarce information relating to placing someone into the mindset of a common citizen."_

_"But Doctor, certainly there is someway to treat her. She's been through so much."_

_"Mister Nikos, though we live in a society that does train the young, some say too young, to engage the Grimm in open combat, we focus on providing these children with capable psychological services and stress the role that they will play will not be required of them for an extended period of time, we do try to have them be of age when they are enlisted. And quite simply, we do not have the references to deal with someone who has been in this situation for so long."_

_"... Pyrrha doesn't seem to be too bad."_

_"Pyrrha, unfortunately, is a very good actor. In my observation, i have determined two major neurosis. Pyrrha is a textbook example of Compartmentalization taken to the most destructive extreme. She is literally capable of repressing information that she deems unimportant or destructive, and through this, able to advance through a time frame. I would almost say she was suffering from multiple personality disorder, if she wasn't able to trigger the events and be Semi-conscious of their passing. Mister Nikos, it is barely sufficient to say that we have a long way to go."_

* * *

Nora and Ren walked through the east wing of Beacon. A handful of students sent side glances at the perky redhead and stoic boy from Atlas. They were probably wondering why the pair were dividing their time between talking into a headset and scanning the halls for someone. A few even stopped to ask what they were doing, though most were keen to ignore the offsetting foreign boy or annoyingly exuberant girl.

"Ren. Come in Ren. This is Ruby. Have you found Pyrrha?"

Ren pushed a button on the side of his comm piece. "No Ruby. We'll tell you when we do."

Another voice crackled through. "Maybe we should just let her go everyone. Pyrrha can take care of herself. I was gone with Sun for two days, and I was fine."

"Yeah, but that was the weekend. And we know you can take care of yourself. Pyrrha ran off crying." Jaune countered. "Besides, at the end, you were fighting a dangerous criminal with a monkey boy for back up against a dangerous criminal and trained soldiers."

"Terrorists." Weiss pointed out.

"Freedom Fighters." Ruby counter pointed.

"Misguided freedom fighters." Blake admitted.

"Can we please get the teachers in on this?"

"NO!" Was the general consensus on Ren's reasonable suggestion. "We can do this on our own." Jaune added. Ren pulled the earpiece out and just pressed a cold palm to his forehead. Sure, he could understand that it was teenage pride and fear if accountability that kept Jaune from asking for help, but it still grated on his nerves.

A girl popped alongside Nora. "Hey, you need anything?"

Nora shook her head, stopped, thought about it, then nodded. "Can you help us find our friend? She ran off somewhere and our friends are pretty worried."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Sounds serious. I'll help you. Vesta Lionheart."

"Nora Valkyrie." Nora stuck out a hand and Vesta shook it.

"Lie Ren." Ren went in for the handshake. Vesta awkwardly pulled back her hand.

"Denied."

"Thank you Nora, for the commentary. Vesta, we could use your team to help us."

Vesta gave a little smile, not quite meeting Ren's eyes. "Team VALR is here to help."

Nora gave a little cry of triumph and dragged Vesta off, leaving Ren behind. He put his comm. piece back to his ear and listened to the others argue about whether or not Pyrrha had run away because of Jaune, or Sky and Russell.

_'Alright, screw this. I'm getting the headmaster.'_ And with that thought, Ren marched off to Ozpin's office.

* * *

___(Four Years Ago)_

_Pyrrha sat in the living room watching, or rather looking at, daylight television. The world spun passed her, her family of unimportant people going about their daily lives. Pyrrha watched the sun raise for a couple of hours, then went back to the TV. She was on her off day, between training regiments and letting her body recuperate._

_Pyrrha watched her sister leave for school. It was strange, but her parents had named her Pyrrha as well. Apparently, they were still getting over the shock of having their only daughter kidnapped when she was born. Of course, her parents soon got to calling the younger Pyrrha Parry when they got over their grief and began to move on. The name helped to differentiate the two._

_Pelum left for a work meeting soon after, about four or five hours later. Pyrrha waved goodbye. Parry came home and watched TV with Pyrrha. The sun set at 7:27. Pyrrha sat back as the television ran through the last of its programming._

_In the main room, the phone rang. Thetis answered it, then hung up. She said she was leaving, that the police station called and she was needed there, even though it was her day off. Pyrrha nodded to her mother and went back to passing the time._

_She flipped through the channels. A news report came up. Pyrrha decided to watch it. There had been an incident at the city congressional hall. Pyrrha flipped to the next channel. More news, same situation, different angle. Pyrrha watched the events unfold._

_The city was apparently under siege or something. Wait what?_

_Pyrrha's brain engaged, the newscast snapping into clarity. There was apparently a hostage situation. The city counsel was being held under force and someone was demanding that power be handed over to them._

_Pyrrha unconsciously clenched her fists. How had this happened. Project Argonaut had been formed expressly to prevent such events, by eliminating radical factions within Mistral. She had personally removed several problems that had cropped up._

_The news anchor began to iterate the situation again. "We have recently been contacted by the leader of the rebels, who have offered to release a hostage, in exchange for providing a time slot to address the public. We now go to a recording provide by the leader himself."_

_The screen blinked to black. Pyrrha unconsciously rose at this. Damn these people. Who would dare try and take their city, her city, from the people that had been-_

_"Hello people of Mistral. My name is captain Pelias Creth. I was once like you. I trusted my country to steer me right. I followed them with well and rightly won loyalty, and believed we were in the right. However, I was naive. When this proud city-state was pulled into Vytal's Faunus war, I fought alongside you, and I saw the true cost of the war. I saw what this corrupt congress had brought our nation into, I decided that this nation was in need of a new stage. New blood, a rebirthing from the wretched rot that we have been forced to endure."_

_"We of project Argonaut have been prepared for this night. Our strongest, our brightest, have been carefully brought here this night, and through them, I shall bring us to a more perfect city and condemn those whose corrupt power has forced my hand. I only wish that you people do understand that I shall not harm you. Good night Mistral."_

_The tv faded to black. The dim reflection from the screen only showed the stunned Pyrrha, tears rolling down her cheeks from wide eyes, not even an inch away from the former transmission of a madman._

_The night dragged on. Pyrrha watched the events unfold. The insane demands of captain Pelias were met for a time. At one point, Jason stepped out of the Hall, stunning the anchor into silence. Pelias was declared General President, taking up the mantel of his brother, Aeson._

_Pyrrha watched as people tried to make through the mad night, and watched as dawn broke and the Military put their plan into action. As the sun rose, the bodies of Pelias, Bear, Jason and many others were stretched across the ground. The cost was almost a dozen lives though. Senators, police men, and a single civilian, a young woman, a mother, that had been accidently in the line of fire._

_Pyrrha finally turned off the television. There was a whimpered behind her, and as Pyrrha turned, she saw the running form of Parry, disappearing into her room._

_Pyrrha watched her go. "... I'm sorry."_

* * *

As Ren finished explaining the previous two chapter to Headmaster Ozpin, he mentally chuckled at how easy that had been. Ozpin had been at the library instead of his office, but was also ready to help them. The duo were now walking back to the meeting place where team RWBY JNPR and VALR would be. Of course, the site of the headmaster was not exactly a sight for sore eyes.

That is to say, Jaune was trying to figure out why Ren had done this, and not accepting that he had done it because it made sense.

"We had a deal."

"No we didn't."

"I thought we were a team."

"If we were, why are team RWBY and VALR here again?"

"I can't believe you told the Headmaster!"

"I can help you, you know." Ozpin put in. He was promptly ignored by Ruby and Blake beginning an arguement, with Yang following. Vesta and her teammate, Argentina Kesshô, shared a confused look. Weiss started to point out that Ren was right, only to be called a traitor. And lo and behold, an argument.

Ren argued with Jaune, Weiss argued with Ruby and Blake, Yang tried to make herself heard, and Nora was, uncharacteristically, being nice and quiet. Finally, the argument was cut short be Ozpin. "Um, isn't that Pyrrha over there?"

The argument staggered to a halt as the teams turned and saw that, yes, Pyrrha was walking up the front drive. Jaune's gaze went from her, to the assembled, then back to Pyrrha, before he bolted off towards her, his teammates in hot pursuit.

Pyrrha barely knew what hit her. One moment she was walking down the front drive of Beacon, the next, she was in a bear hug supplied, and then reinforced, by Jaune. "Pyrrha, we were so worried about you." Jaune backed off her and took her in. "What happened to you. And where's your shield?"

Pyrrha self-consciously pulled a strand of hair out of her face. "Oh, you know. Stuff. Hey Ren."

Ren looked over Pyrrha. Slightly singed, missing her shield, with branches and leaves in her hair. "Welcome back Pyrrha."

Pyrrha gave a smile, one slightly lopsided. "It's good to be back."

* * *

**A/N: Well, that chapter took too long. Weird.**

**Be kind, rewind and review.**


	4. Chapter 4: Warriors Path Part 1

**The Second Step: Chapter 4**

**Warrior's Path: Part 1**

**A/N: Well, now that we have Pyrrha's backstory all established, I guess you want me to get around to Team RWBY? Well, sorry folks, but we still got more for Miss Nikos to get through and hey, why not give some room for the rest of JNPR's daily life and some decent shenanigans?**

**Whose with me?**

**Grif! Why didn't you give the disclaimer last week!?**

**Meh, why bother Simmons, the readers now this?**

**But we need to tell the Internet that the Author doesn't own RWBY and that it belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.**

**Meh. Rules.**

* * *

Tuesday.

* * *

Jaune reached into the slick, wet miasma. Pyrrha groaned at the action. Jaune shifted his arm, seeking the release Pyrrha needed. His fingers scuttled around in the wetness, and Pyrrha's eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets. Finally, Jaune grunted in satisfaction as his fingers gripped the prize.

"Got it." Jaune's hand emerged from the slick, wet miasma that was the kitchen sink, clutching the stopper that had prevented the release of the soapy water. The sink drained out, officially ending the morning chore of cleaning the dishes. I mean, what else did you think they were doing? Laundry?

"Really Jaune? Did it really take you five minutes to find the drain?"

"Hey, it took you ten minutes yester..." Jaune clamped his mouth shut. Pyrrha just laughed.

"Reeennnnnnn. Wake up Ren. Remnant to Ren. Come in Ren." Nora leaned over Ren, bringing her mouth about and inch away from his ear. "Ren. Ren. Ren. REN!" Ren spasmed in his sleep and rolled out of bed.

"Good morning Ren!" Nora smiled at her lifelong friend and helped him to his feet. Ren ignored her, went to the guys closet, pulled the green tailcoat he slept in off, pulled a new, clean green tailcoat on, and went to the kitchen stove. "Pan."

Jaune handed him the pan.

"Grease."

Pyrrha handed him the grease.

"Batter. Cinnamon. Spatula. Plate." In quick succession, Pyrrha and Jaune handed all the materials needed for Ren to work his magic. In an almost zen like trance, Ren produced a masterpiece of culinary design.

"Here you are Pyrrha. Breakfast." Ren slotted a pancake onto the plate, almost absentmindedly adding a dash of syrup to the delicious food. Pyrrha thanked him and set it aside. In short order, three more large pancakes were fried into existence and allocated to their respective plates. Team JNPR, dressed for the day, gathered at the counter and using their improvised chairs, sat down and dug in.

"Vevonvuvaykvs 'gulp' every day Ren! They're amazing!" Pyrrha said. The rest of the team collectively froze and shot each other side long glances. Pyrrha smiled cheekily. "Oh, I get it. You made them for me."

Jaune swallowed his bite of pancake and turned to her. "No we didn't. Ren made them because it's that time of the month for Nora."

"Yup. I'm kinda PMSing, but not really all that bad. It's irritating, but in a good way, hey, does anyone wanna practice blowing stuff up. I would love to blow some stuff up right now, cause I'm irradiated. I mean irritated. Anyone, anyone? No one? Well okay, I'll just settled for blowing up stuff on my own. It's really fun, except when real stuff is being blown up. Then it's hilarious! Last call for blowing stuff up! Any takers?"

Most of JNPR stared at the hyperactive cutie. Ren cleared his throat. "Well, that's great Nora."

Pyrrha said, "If you're trying to make me feel better about yesterday, you don't need to." Pyrrha gave a very big, but ambiguously genuine smile. "I got over myself after fighting some Grimm yesterday."

Jaune tried to be casual. "So, you fought a Grimm yesterday. What kind, eh, a Beowulf? Boarbatusk? Any Quoths?"

"A King Taijitu, thirty Quoths, twelve Beowulves, seven Boarbatusks, eight Ursa's and an Ursa Major." Pyrrha smiled a little at Jaune and company's completely derailed shock. "Fighting is seriously cathartic. You should seriously try it some time. But thanks for helping." And Pyrrha gave Jaune a kiss on the cheek.

Jaune didn't reply. His brain was still trying to reboot from its blue screen.

Pyrrha turned back to Nora and Ren. "So, we have two hours until our classes. What do you want to do?"

Ren promptly stood up, went to his bed, and hit it like a ton of bricks. Nora looked at the sleepy green boy and the still stunned yellow boy and smiled evilly. Every little girls dream was about to come true. "Dress up."

That certainly woke up Ren and Jaune. Maybe into a nightmare, depending who you asked. "Yes! Exactly what she said! Yes!" Pyrrha said.

In an almost too enthusiastic manner, Pyrrha and Nora had both boys up and stripped to the bare essentials, and were already going through Nora's sizable collection of auxiliary clothing, selecting whatever caught their eyes. In seconds, they had wrapped their friends in a swath of fabric that was quickly resolved into some very sweet duds.

Ren had a selection of carefully metered blacks and whites, adored in a black jacket, white under shirt, black slacks, undone tie and black aviators. A wristwatch (silver, with inlaid gold) was on his right arm. But the real change was his hair, slicked back and given a twist, the magenta bang free and dangling just above his left eye, a single black hairband completing the ensemble with a ponytail.

Jaune was more mellow. Browns and whites with purple cuff links. A medallion dangled from his neck, and pumps gave him a sweet boost. His hair was combed over, but otherwise left untouched.

Pyrrha eyes the pair. Ren was pretty cut in the suit, but Jaune seemed to be missing something. Something for his face. Makeup, no. Necklace...no. Glasses? That's it!

Pyrrha nearly jumped Jaune when she put the finishing touches on him. Honestly, there was sexy, and then there was what she was seeing right here in front of her. Jaune, in the mean time, was wondering if letting Pyrrha use him as her personal doll was a good way to help her get over yesterday.

Honestly, who knew that she had such a personal problem with bullies.

* * *

_(Four years ago)_

_Pyrrha walked into Carter's office. The same chairs were there. The same desk, pictures, everything was there. She'd just never noticed them before. The sheer oddness hit her that, in all of six months of therapy, she hadn't bothered with seeing what her therapist decided to dress her room with. For example; a Newtons cradle._

_Carter set her omnipresent clipboard to the side. "I understand that you've had a breakthrough Pyrrha."_

_"Yes. Yeah, I did."_

_Carter gave a little nod. "Would you be able to recount the events surrounding your breakthrough?"_

_"I don't think so." Pyrrha tried to sink into the plush chair, tried to avoid the gaze of Carter, but with titanic effort, brought herself back to the open. "But I will try. I mean, I'll try."_

_Pyrrha went through the recount of the night Pelias tried and failed to take control of the government. Carter listened quietly, only interrupting to ask a question. Finally, when Pyrrha reached the part when she saw her sister, Carter finally raised a specific question: "Were you afraid when you saw your sister?"_

_Pyrrha thought hard, going through her emotions. Her sister had shocked her, certainly, but what else had she felt. She had felt..._

_... shame?_

_"I was not afraid, but I was ashamed." Pyrrha twitched at the formality of the statement. Carter took a note._

_"Did you know why you were ashamed?"_

_Pyrrha tried to follow the thought. She hadn't wanted to be associated with them. She had been angry that they had made her... made her... what? Pyrrha tried to focus on what had happened in project Argonaut._

_"I do not, don't know why I was ashamed. I can't remember." Pyrrha couldn't face Carter._

_Carter nodded to herself and made another note. "That mental block is probably a defense mechanism. Prior to Friday night, you maintained a high degree of mental compartmentalization. When you realized that you could not ignore the moralistic implications of your military mindset, your subconscious most likely shunted the memories apart from your main consciousness, to avoid the mental stress of having conventional morals and also being aware of what you've done. Ergo, you unintentionally repressed the memories to feel better about yourself." Carter shifted her glasses up her nose._

_Pyrrha deliberately turned from her therapist. "Not all of my memories."_

_"Pyrrha, you can trust me. Tell me what you did."_

_Pyrrha went through a slow breathing exercise, trying to push her tears to the wayside. "When I was in the hospital, I saw my sister, for the first time. When, when I saw her 'hic' I, I, 'gulp' knocked her out. And she knows I did it."_

_Pyrrha looked at her therapist. "Why did I forget everything except this?"_

_Carter looked at her patient, set her clipboard aside again, and adjusted her glasses. Behind them, her eyes shown with unshed tears. "Pyrrha, the situation with your sister is different. When your parents lost you, I won't sugar-coat this, they tried to replace you. Parry was born and raised almost identically to you, but when your parents came to realize that she would never be you, they came to a coworker of mine for marriage counseling. I certainly informed you of this, and, I believe that you may have developed feelings of sibling rivalry from this knowledge. You are jealous, and that has allowed your to divorce and justify your actions relative to your sister without repressing them."_

_Pyrrha turned away. "You are lying."_

_"I'm inferring. I know no more than you." Carter took up her clip board again, and made a note of Pyrrha's reaction. "Jealousy is a very healthy reaction Pyrrha. Common and normal. Now then, let's begin this session with the reconciliation of your feelings of your sister..._

* * *

Pyrrha happily shoved Jaune out of the room and into the hallway for display. "Let's see what Ruby thinks of you."

Jaune tried to reverse against the stronger girl. "Um I don't think that's a good idea."

"Nonsense!" Pyrrha opened the door with a flourish. "Knock knock, does anyone think Jaune's hot?"

Ruby looked up from disassembling Crescent Rose. "Hi Jaune. Hi Pyrrha. Nice necklace."

"Medallion." Jaune corrected. Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. She was so sure that Jaune was to die for. Why wasn't Ruby...oh wait, looks like Weiss took the bait.

Weiss had been working on some homework and after looking up at the intruders, had promptly allowed her jaw to drop. Pyrrha smirked and got to the side of Weiss. "So Weiss, like what you see?"

"Uh huh."

"Don't you just want to touch him."

"Yup."

"And feel him."

Weiss was making grabby-grabby motions at Jaune, who was absorbed in a conversation with Ruby.

"And...lick him."

A line of blood traces its way down Weiss's face and into her pretty little mouth. Without pretense, she lunged for Jaune, moving like a zombie that had just smelled fresh brains. Jaune only just dodged her mindless attack, and ran for the door.

Weiss was hot, but he really had more important things to worry about, read, Pyrrha's mental health. He ran like the Loch himself was on his tail.

On and on Jaune ran, jogging down the hall, rather easily staying ahead from Weiss, a side effect of several months of training from Pyrrha, after he had gotten Cardin off his back. However, almost every woman that saw him either broke in to sprints after him, or into nose bleeds. Or both.

He actually had a rather small group of about five girls out to jump his bones. Of course, to Jaune, it was like the whole school was after him. Then the really weird people showed up. Example: "Come here you big love muffin."

"Is that a horse!?"

Finally, Jaune spotted some people he actually knew. "Yang, Blake, you got to help me. These girls, and a couple guys, they're after me, and I really...guys."

Twin nose bleeds trickled down their faces.

"Oh Lovers damn it."

Yang and Blake both jumped at the dressed up boy, and Jaune resumed fleeing.

Jaune looked back and saw Yang and Blake in leading an army of fangirls. He looked forward and saw Blake in front of a window. The resident ninja had taken the moment to flash step in front of him. Jaune gave a mental shrug, and let loose a battle cry of sheer manliness. He tackled Blake...

...through the window.

_'Aww shit.'_

The duo actually were okay. They sailed across the gap between buildings with supernatural grace, aided by Blake's accelerator semblance. The two descended maybe one floor level before slamming into the opposite window.

MEANWHILE:

"I'm telling you Pete, the White Fang is planning something." Bart poured his friend some coffee. "They've set an assassin on standby, and according to the network, they're gunning for a student."

Peter nodded and mixed a large cup of cream into Oobleck's special high caffeine yield blend of coffee. "We'll need to locate their target. They could already have members scouting the premise."

Jaune and Blake fell through the window and into the teachers lounge. Port gestured. "Speak of the devil, she shall appear."

Jaune untangled himself from the dazed girl and bolted from the room. Blake came to a moment later and only seemed to realize her surroundings after drooling and mumbling about how she couldn't handle the Jaune. But that's another story.

Jaune made it out of the room and down the hall maybe fifty feet before he ran into another girl. "I'm sorry, gotta go, I'm late for work, I mean class and... and." Jaune trailed off as her realized that the girl he had crashed into was actually the only person likely unaffected by his new found good looks, Professor Goodwitch, accompanied by the Headmaster. "Oh man, am I glad to see you two."

Glynda's stared at Jaune, trying to remember where she had seen his face. Ozpin was quick to take a long drink from his coffee to mask his own confusion. Glynda spun Jaune around and started pushing him. "Perfect, you arrived just in time Mister Brooks. The class is just over here, the lesson plan is already in the faculty email, and you jut need to teach straight from it. Thanks for arriving on such short notice again, we were rather worried that we wouldn't be able to have anyone fill in for Misses Peach." Glynda finished shoving Jaune and left him in a class room. "Thank you again Mister Brooks and sorry for rushing you so much. Have a nice day."

Jaune watched her leave, then looked at his class. Most of the girls were experiencing nosebleeds, as were some of the boys, and the rest were pulling out their notes and getting ready for the class. Jaune honestly didn't know which was worse, the flash fangirl mob, or actually teaching a class of his peers.

He chose the fangirls.

"Um, okay class." Jaune made some computery motions on the keyboard, making it look like he was doing something. "Today, we shall be going over, um, high class etiquette."

Jaune the teacher. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

* * *

_(Three Years Ago)_

_Pyrrha wandered around the neighborhood without any particular direction or drive. The block between 158th, Walnut, 157th and Chestnut had been thoroughly explored by her feet and eyes, but walking was really helpful when she wanted to think._

_Pyrrha had been with her family, really with them, for nine months, two weeks, and five days. Apparently, keeping track of how many days she stayed with her family helped keep her eye on the ball._

_Pyrrha waved at Miss Cabins, who waved back at her from her stoop. Pyrrha turned up Chestnut street and saw her father working on his car. "Hello dad."_

_"Hey babe." Pelum yanked something from the engine and held it up for examination. "See this. This here is the cam shaft. When it rotates, it depresses the caps in the cylinder head, letting in fuel and evacuating the exhaust. I think it may be out of alignment, and letting in too much gas."_

_Pyrrha nodded in understanding. Mostly. "But wouldn't letting in more gas improve the engine?"_

_"Not really. The car has a rough idle, and if the cam shaft is letting in too much fuel, it'll overheat and lock up." Pelum winked. "Damn near scared the shit out of me the first time I vapor locked this old car."_

_Pyrrha smiled. "I'm sorry about that." Pelum looked at his daughter and winced._

_"I guess you aren't all that interested in this stuff. It's guy stuff. You wouldn't get it." He turned back to the open hood._

_Pyrrha moved around her father and reached into the engine. "Well, I'm not a conventional girl. Let me try to help. What is this here? It has a gas line going into it."_

_Pelum gestured at the part in question. "Carburetor. It regulates the fuel level. But I already disassembled it, it's in perfect condition." Pelum crossed his fingers. "However, there something in it that could have slip passed me. Inside the carburetor is a float that lets in more or less fuel depending on where it sits. If its off by even less then a millimeter, the whole system falls apart."_

_The Nikos stared at the offending piece of hardware. "You really think that's it dad?"_

_"Only one way to find out. Problem is, it's a right prick to disassemble."_

_Pyrrha reached in, and removed the fuel line, gas lever, and four bolts. "Okay, now what?"_

_Pelum didn't bother to keep the shock off his face. "Um, you need to unscrew the bolts, but I can never keep straight which side is up."_

_Pyrrha took up a screwdriver and quickly removed the eight screws on the carburetor and removed the top, revealing a copper box. "Is that the float?"_

_Pelum smiled warmly._

* * *

Ren tried to walk casually down the hallway, inhibiting most everyone that wtry staring at him. Not wasn't easy when five fangirls were tailing him. Or when Nora was talking to him.

"Wow. They really like my work! I should go into hairstyling. Or fashion! Maybe they'll be my customers. That or their boyfriends. That would be so nice to meet someone while finding clothes for them. Oh, it's so hard to meet that special someone when you're in the mob, don't you think Ren?"

"Whatever you say Nora." Ren didnt meet the gaze of a fanboy that had tried to catch his eye. "Can I please change out of this get up?"

"Nope!" Nora danced around and casually tripped a girl that was going for her friend. "Let's make for the forges. Maybe they won't follow us there."

Another fangirl tried to talk to Ren. "I doubt that."

Finally, a girl made a semblance charged lunge and grabbed Ren's... Er... How do is say this delicately. Let's let Nora try.

"YOU DID NOT JUST GRAB REN'S ASS!"

Okay, bad idea.

Ren kept walking as the furious girl turned and began laying into the fanclub of star struck girls and boys. Finally, he made it to the school foundry and found an unlocked door.

Ren locked the door, then broke the lock, trapping Nora and her fight outside outside and him within. Ren sighed with relief. Now that he was safe...what was that breathing down his neck? Ren turned, and saw a short girl in a black tank top and blues jeans with a heat mask on not three inches away from his face.

"Hey Ren." Ruby pulled her mask up and smiled at the boy from Atlas. Ren nearly let out another sigh of relief. Of all the women he had run into, Ruby tended to be the only one that didn't turn into a zombified fangirl or a gibbering mass of feminine shape. Granted though, only five had actually had the guts to come after him, so it wasn't that bad. Of course, if Jaune had been in his situation (which he probably was) he'd think the whole school was after him.

In actuality, Ren was right.

"Soooo, what are you doing here Ren?"

"Avoiding Nora's fight."

Ruby put comforting hand on his shoulder. "That sounds rough. You know what I do when I need to deal with stress. I forge."

Ren stared at the empathizing girl. "I don't follow."

Ruby went to a table and pulled a long metal rod from it. Close inspection revealed to be hollow and rifled with a big notch in the metal. "This is the barrel for Crescent Rose. It kinda got dinged up."

Ren looked from the barrel to the girl. "You got into a fight?"

Ruby winced. "No... Yes."

Ren groaned into a palm, and checked out the barrel. It was a deep gash, and obviously one that needed attention. "Alright. I'll help."

"Yay!" Ruby got to work, ordering Ren to collect a number of different metals and tools. As he did so, Ruby went on about what she was doing.

"Crescent Rose's barrel was originally Nickel Steel. But the weight was too much for locomotion, so I swapped out with a Nickel Aluminum alloy. It was lighter, but softer and more prone to breaking and damage. It's not really meant to take a lightning sword though."

Ren handed Ruby twenty grams of Titanium, ten grams aluminum and one gram nickel. Ruby accepted them graciously, and dumped them into a smelting pot. "I'm going with some Titanium to improve the weight to strength ratio. It may be prone to lower temperatures, but the hardness will compensate. Less damage from a Cross Clip."

Ren listened along as Ruby talked about metals and weapons and ammunition, easily putting out the darker thoughts that haunted him about tomorrow. Ruby may have been off putting at times, but she really was a good person at heart, who cared about her friends.

It was rather relaxing, hearing her talk.

But Ren had more pressing matters to attend to, as Ruby reminded him. "Is Pyrrha alright?"

Ren shrugged. "We don't know. Pyrrha didn't tell us what happened, not even Jaune. We still don't know where she went yesterday, or why. We're just trying to keep her happy until she decides to tell us." Ren looked down. "We've been her teammates for four months now. Why doesn't she trust us?"

Ruby turned to the now liquid metal, and stirred it around. "Everyone has their secrets. There are something's even I don't tell Yang."

A wash of shame came over Ren. "I guess I know exactly what you're talking about Ruby."

* * *

_(Three Years Ago)_

_Parry laid down on the couch, putting on her head phones. Pyrrha slunk behind her, trying to look casual. "Hey kiddo."_

_Parry looked at her and shrunk away. Pyrrha winced and said, "I'm sorry."_

_Parry edge away from her sister. Pyrrha gulped. "So what are you listening to?" She looked at the table and picked a cassette case off of it, reading it. "The Spectrum Album, by Snow White. Is it good?"_

_"Go away!" Parry shouted. Pyrrha jumped back and away. Uncertain, she turned and acquiesced to her sisters demand, walking out of the room._

_Every time she tried to get to know her sister, she always messed up somehow. She either got her sister in a bad mood, or when she didn't want to talk, or when she was just being herself._

_Pyrrha went down the stairs and out the door. Walking helped her think, and she needed this at times. The blocks sidewalk passed below her feet, and the stress slowly melted away. Pyrrha turned the corner and walked the street._

_Peace came to her, if only for a moment._

* * *

Jaune bolted into the room, slamming the door shut hard. The fangirls had finally decided that being a teacher was most certainly not a negative on the boyfriend resume. As such, he needed only to say one wrong thing to start another rampage. Frankly, he was shocked that he made it back at all. Pyrrha was laying on her stomach in her bed reading a romance novel. Jaune didn't even begin to fathom why Pyrrha was so enamored in Nora's books, or why now.

"Welcome back handsome." Pyrrha set the book down and got of the bed. "How was class?"

"Oh, you know. Bad. I ran for my life, or eh, you know. Just trying to stay ahead of crazy women. And men." Jaune tried to reconcile what he was seeing with what the Pyrrha he knew was like. What he was seeing was not anything like her.

"Oh that's so terrible." Pyrrha walked over to him, shaking her hips and looking for all the world like, well, a very, very sexy woman. "Momma will make it all better."

Jaune swallowed, and screwed up his courage. "Pyrrha. I think that we should get around to training again? Don't you?"

"Oh I know exactly what we can train in. Wanna see?"

'_Somethings wrong with Pyrrha._' Thought Jaune.

* * *

**A/N: As always, thanks to my Editors Ttran2323 and H'te Rarpee. I couldn't do it without you two!**

**And digit anyone that's interested, the Spectrum album mentioned by Pyrrha is the RWBY-verses equivalent of the soundtrack to REBY volume one. Mirror, Mirror, Red Like Roses, From Shadows, and I Burn are all on it. Not Red Like Roses part 2 through, for plot-relevant reasons.**


	5. Chapter 5: Warrior's Path Part 2

**The Second Step: Chapter 5**

**Warrior's Path: Part 2**

**A/N: this chapter is going to end the Pyrrha's history section of the story. The story's still going to focus on team RWBY for a bit, then swap back to JNPR and CRDL.**

**Why? Two words:**

**Mafia extortion.**

**By the way, though out this story, I've been using 'oh my Lovers' as a variation of 'oh my God.' This little quirk is explained in my other RWBY story "The Gods Are Missing" where two lovers saved the world.**

**Disclaimer: To all the sexy lesbian's out there, this chapter's coming straight to you from the arms of Lavernius Tucker, Bow Chika Bow Wow! For the dudes, the author doesnt own RWBY. Or is with Rooster Teeth. Or is all that good looking, but I'd still tap that. Bow Chika Bow Wow!**

* * *

Tuesday

* * *

Ren stepped into the room with nary a whisper, and finally let out a long sigh of relief. He stripped out of the welding gear and helmet that had concealed him for the walk back, with almost every girl sending glances his way.

Ren turned, braced himself against the door and let his legs give out below him. Lovers, it was like every woman had some sort of telepathy built into them that told them that if they stripped him, they'd want to tap him. He just wanted to sleep. Alone!

"Help."

Ren furrowed his brow and pulled himself up by the doorknob. Pyrrha's bed appeared to be vomiting. A man suddenly appeared out of the covers, before being dragged down by Pyrrha again. Ren thoughts were rather appropriate; "_What the fuck?"_

"Help." The man surfaced again, saw Ren and cried "Rape" before vanishing again. Ren honestly didn't know if he should consider this funny or illegal.

The man yelped and cried out again. Ren decided that he needed to take this seriously, and promptly ripped the covers off the bed, and then the mystery man off Pyrrha. "Okay, well now-" and that was as far Ren got before the man ran for the door. 'Holy Crap I actually stopped a real rape.' Ren thought.

The man went for Jaune's sword and brandished it with some actual skill. Pyrrha got off the bed and gestured seductively at him. "Come ere Jauney boy. Come to momma."

Ren's jaw nearly detached itself from his skull. That was Jaune! He couldn't even recognize him! It suddenly occurred to Ren that if Jaune was like this, then he might look like a complete stranger. How Nora and Pyrrha had pulled that off, dressing them up in such a way that he was completely incapable of recognizing a teammate that he had known for four months was shocking.

Then the actual implications of what Pyrrha had said sunk in. "I'm going to leave." Ren turned to the door, only for Pyrrha to grab him from behind and Jaune to block the door.

"You're not going anywhere Ren." Jaune brandished Crocea Mors again.

Ren raised his hands in a peace offering. "Look, I'm not bi, and I don't want to be part of your Rape play."

"It's not play!" Ren stiffened at Jaune's tone. The man sounded like he was on the verge of tears! Ergo, like someone who was almost raped.

"Oh we are playing. And having a lot of fun." Pyrrha curled her hand under Ren's chin. Ren wondered what the hell was happening.

* * *

_(Three Years Ago)_

_Pyrrha stared at the advert, and then at the warehouse. The addresses were the same, and the poster did say it was underground, but she seriously didn't think it was this off the main circuit._

_Still, people trickled into the building, and most had the frat boy, goth girl appearances of fighting fans. Pyrrha wasn't sure why she had decided to go with something so far in the dark, but she was itching to fight, and the poster said that it was open to all comers, with all weapons and aura powers free for usage. It was a proper free for all, and Pyrrha had wanted one of those for a long time._

_And besides, the fight was for three thousand dollars. Oh what she could do with three thousand dollars._

_Inside, a ref gave her the rules: no rules save stop when he said stop, and one on one, no help. Pyrrha nodded and drew a card. She was up against a hulk of a man named Allen Ham._

_In the ring, well, the fight was short but brutal. Ham had barely any actual style, but relied on copious amounts of aura and a weapon that basically amounted to a sword welded to a shotgun. "I call it Richard." He explained as the ref had her carted out on a stretcher. Pyrrha didn't care. She had gotten into a real fight, and she wanted more._

_Two months of intensive training later, Pyrrha enlisted herself in the same underground ring she had before and tore through four men and six women like they were tissue paper. Three months after that, Pyrrha entered herself into the Mistral Regional Tournament and won._

_It seemed like she was on top of the world at times, but it was always fun to fight. It was the matching of internal wits and strength with the omnipresent externality of weapons and dust. It was beautiful to her._

_Pyrrha was born for war._

* * *

Nora opened the door, brushing at some scotch marks on her skirt and on her face cheerily. She was sure to say that she had absolutely won the fight for Ren's ass. Speak of the Grimm, look there's Ren and...

"PYRRHA! LET GO OF MY BOY TOY!"

The assembled team stared at the pink one. Nora looked from a very sexy Jaune to a VERY sexy Ren and finally at fairly normal looking Pyrrha. "What did I miss? I mean, I've only been gone what? Twenty minutes? An hour? I mean, I've only been fighting for a few minutes, or is that a case of time going slower when you're having fun. Or was the saying time goes fast when you're having fun. Hey Ren, what was the saying again?"

Ren looked at the Pyrrha that was caressing his chin like she wanted to marry it and at his friend. "Time flies-"

"When you're having fun! Right! Thanks Ren. So, what did I miss?"

"Pyrrha was trying to rape me." Jaune said.

"Oh Jauney-boy, we were playing. Come on, you know you were having fun." Pyrrha leaned in on Ren. "You know, we could have some fun." She whispered to him.

Ren practically teleported.

"Okay, this has gone on long enough." Ren said.

Jaune groaned and lowered his sword. "Pyrrha, just tell us what's wrong. I mean, this isn't you. You don't wanna sleep with me." Jaune rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "...I wouldn't...

Nora stepped up. "Come on, where's the serious, friendly Pyrrha. We want that Pyrrha back."

Ren nodded in agreement. "We won't judge you for whatever happened Pyrrha. Just tell us and get it off your chest."

Pyrrha's smile never wavered. "Come on, there's nothing wrong with me. I'm the same old Pyrrha. I just needed a fight to get Sky's words out of my head." Pyrrha's smile seemed to grow and show too much teeth.

Nora, of all people, sighed. "Pyrrha, we want you to help us train, but we also want you to be here because you keep us together. You are the person who's always telling us just one more lap, just keep going. Always supporting me and Ren and Jaune, training Jaune to get him up to speed. You've practically raised us here. We want our mother back."

Pyrrha's smile widened fractionally, only so small because she was already threatening to rip her mouth open. "Come on. I think I'm still the same girl. And besides, who needs all that training. We're just here to make friends right?"

Silence. Jaune blinked in disbelief. He pointed at Pyrrha, going from looking at Ren and Nora and looking at Pyrrha with a look of shock quite unlike what anything else he had ever had on his face. "W,w,why? Why would you say that! We are all here, to learn how to fight! Not make friends! You said you would train me! You said you would help us! Doesn't that mean anything to you!?"

Pyrrha finally dropped the smile for something approaching a motherly grin that was slightly off. "I came here to make friends Jaune. I don't need to learn to fight. Trust me, we don't need to fight. We don't even need to compete in the Vytal festival. We're done."

* * *

_(Three Years Ago)_

_Pyrrha sat down on the couch and started flicking through the channels. A news station passed, some cartoons, an ad for cat food. Pyrrha stopped flicking through the channels when déjà vu hit her. Wasn't this the exact scenario that had led to her originally realizes how terrible her life had been. She couldn't help but giggle at the ridiculous implications that she could end up accidentally erasing all of her hard won adaptation._

_Pyrrha took the remote from Parry and started flicking through the channels again. She passed a block of reality TV shows before she realized that she was sitting next to her younger sister. Pyrrha turned off the TV and looked at Parry. "Hi."_

_Parry shrunk in on herself and Pyrrha winced. "I'm sorry that I... hurt you. I didn't mean to."_

_Parry seemed to sink into the couch. "Why don't you just back to the hospital we found you in."_

_Pyrrha's jaw dropped. Parry seemed to realize exactly what she had said and flinched away, bringing her hands up to defend herself from the blows of her sister. Pyrrha stared at her. Parry waited for the blow to fall._

_Pyrrha grabbed her sister and wrapped her arms around her smaller form. Parry tried to struggle free, but Pyrrha slipped her arms under Parry's and didn't let go. Pyrrha took one final breath and started bawling her eyes out._

_Parry stilled in her sisters arms. Pyrrha just held on and had a good cry. She let go of her emotions and just let them run their course._

_If you asked Pyrrha what she was feeling, her answer would be, of course, sorrow. However, the reasoning behind her feelings was much more complicated. She was sad she hadn't managed to connect with her little sister after a year of trying. She was scared that she really was just what her sister thought she was: a monster._

_But buried deep underneath all of that was a secret anger. Pyrrha was furious at herself and her family. Didn't they know what she had been through for the sake of a lunatic? Why couldn't Parry try to understand how painful and terrible it was to know that someone you were told to love, you knew deep down you were supposed to protect, hated and feared you. It made her feel..._

_...hideous._

_Parry finally untangled herself from her sister, but didn't go anywhere. Her big sister was crying right here, and kept saying she was sorry. Parry was still scared. She was also a little confused. Pyrrha had hit her. Why was she crying?_

_Pyrrha folded in on herself, the warmth of her sister gone. She'd failed. Her sister hated her. Oh Lovers! Her sister hated her! Pyrrha grabbed her head, her mind growing more closed. It didn't matter, it wasn't important, she could igno-._

_Parry hugged Pyrrha. Pyrrha abruptly stopped crying. Parry backed off and said, quite matter of factly; "Don't cry. You're too good for that."_

_Pyrrha hiccuped and rubbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry." She hugged her sister back. "I'm sorry for hitting you."_

_Parry hugged her sister tighter. "I'm sorry I was scared." Parry tried to get out of her sisters arms. Pyrrha tightened her grip around her sister. Parry started to struggle._

_"Can I just have a little more hug?"_

_Parry stopped struggling and just fell back into the hug. Pyrrha nearly started crying again._

* * *

Team JNPR stared at Pyrrha, happily smiling and nodding as if she had just said the most hilarious joke. "Um, could you repeat that Pyrrha?" Ren asked.

"Well, we're not here to learn how to fight. We're here to make friends and just, you know, be ourselves. Am I right?"

Jaune and Nora shared a glance. Now they were beginning to seriously freak out. Whatever had promoted Pyrrha's little run yesterday had led to her being completely divorced from reality. Ren took a long, deep breath. "Okay guys, let me talk to her." To Pyrrha; "I know that you were scared Pyrrha, but what happened yesterday is in the past. We can help you get over what happened."

"Nothing happened yesterday. I just went out and pulled some really stupid stunts. I'm fine."

"You're not fine. The Pyrrha we know is a soldier-."

"I am not a soldier." Every ounce of cheeriness and aloofness vanished from Pyrrha's tone. Jaune stepped in.

"Pyrrha, we're at a school for soldiers. We carry weapons in the halls. We wear armor-."

"You wear armor."

Jaune ignored Nora. "We have strategy classes. On the first day, we killed a giant freaking scorpion. We. Are. Soldiers."

Pyrrha didn't meet Jaune's gaze. He took it as a sign to continue. "Pyrrha, you are the best fighter here at school. You promised to train me." Jaune looked at Nora and Ren. "Especially when you learned I faked my way into Beacon." Jaune turned back to his teammate. "I want you to know that, here, with your team, you can tell us everything. Right guys?"

Ren and Nora nodded, silent as the grave. Jaune gripped Pyrrha's hands. "We should have done this last night Pyrrha. Tell us what's wrong. Please."

The moment dragged on. Finally, Pyrrha met Jaune's cerulean gaze. "Have you ever heard of Project Argonaut?"

* * *

_(Two years ago)_

_Pyrrha opened up the newspaper and flipped to the continuation of the cover story. "...Though Albus Schnee, patriarch of the Schnee family and CEO of the Schnee dust corporation was not in attendance, he was on the scene almost immediately, citing his new communication system his company developed for the speedy, blah blah blah, news bias and filler, here we go. Though the knight robot was active for a total of twenty-four minutes, only ten casualties were reported, along with a single fatality of the six year old Rein Schnee." Pyrrha set the newspaper down, seeing her family arrayed around the dining room table._

_Pelum clicked his tongue. "Sad day when decent people decide to kill innocents for their cause."_

_Thetis shook her head. "I don't care if the Schnee's had their Faunas in bondage. Anyone willing to kill an innocent little girl is a monster to me. The poor Faunas, all be forced to associate with such a group though. Terrible."_

_Pyrrha didn't look at either of her parents, just going on and reading the story. The whole deal had been terrible. Weiss Schnee was now apparently an only child. How sad that it had to take place during one of the family's rare outings to._

_Thetis finished her coffee and took her plate to the sink. "Are you all ready to go Pyrrha? We leave pretty soon."_

_"I'm ready. Just let me finish reading." Pyrrha skimmed through the rest of the article, including a statement from the pop idol Snow White that had been headlining the concert, and a few other articles, including a now rather out-of-date one about a very large pack of Beowulves outside of Mistral. Pyrrha finished the paper and was out the door and into her mother's cruiser._

_She and Thetis were soon off to the forests outside Mistral, stopping only once at the wall that surrounded the city and protected the inner districts from the Grimm. Thetis flashed her badge and was directed to a parking lot just outside the wall where a dozen police cruisers and several vans were situated. The cold air surrounded them and corralled most of the people into their cruisers. However, a huntress regularly flashed between the cars, and a huntsmen was talking with another huntress atop a van._

_Pyrrha and Thetis talked about nothing and everything, comparing notes on this or that subject and just passing the time. The cold morning air barely betrayed that, just last night, a slaughter had occurred._

_Finally, the convoy got the go ahead and set out for a small, unremarkable field near the ocean. The drive was unremarkable. A snowplow had been chartered to clear the roads and provide some basic frontal defense on the off chance the convoy ran into Grimm. Despite the preparation though, the drive was uneventful and devoid of any form of action. The real fight had occurred last night._

_A farmer had seen the carnage first hand after going out to investigate bright flashes late at night. He had told the police that a group of hooligans had been stealing his scarecrows lately, and had left his house with a shotgun. What he had found amounted to a field set aside to plow for the planting season that had been filled with 78 dead Beowulves._

_The number still boggled the minds of the policemen sent out to confirm the kills. It boggled Pyrrha's mind. Even the famous Team JGER of Vale hadn't managed that many kills in one night. Ever. It would have taken maybe twelve trained Huntsmen three days to kill the Beowulves, just because after the first third went down, the whole pack would have split._

_Not only had the entire pack been completely destroyed, it looked like after killing the first couple dozen, the hunter had seriously accelerated and totally obliterated the pack._

_When the police arrived at the scene, the typical response was along the lines of "What the Shade." The entire field was littered with the imprints and bones of dead Beowulves, some still dissolving. Analysis of the prints in the snow confirmed the original assessment, that someone had acted alone and killed almost eighty Beowulves. One woman discovered a set of prints leading to a cliffside memorial._

_A memorial dedicated to a Summer Rose._

* * *

Jaune stared at Pyrrha. The former child soldier - FORMER CHILD SOLDIER! - self-consciously rubbed the back of her head. Jaune looked at his teammates, both sitting in his bed. "Okay. Is this like, what? Some sort of horrible horrible joke? Because there is no way, no way, that the man, with no training or preparation whatsoever, who had to fake his way into the most prestigious combat academy, just so happened to be paired with the woman, a beautiful woman mind you, who just so happens to not only be in the position to train him essentially indefinitely, but is also a former child soldier."

Ren gave a slow nod. Nora was still hung up on the whole, faked his way into Beacon.

Jaune looked at Pyrrha. "Okay. How do we help?"

Pyrrha tried but failed to meet his gaze. "I wasn't sent here to be trained. My father decided that I needed a place where I could regularly be with people my own age to work in my social skills and make friends, real friends. His idea was that here, I'd do so well that I'd never need to worry about grades or studying. That here I could focus on being with my team. Focus on you guys."

Pyrrha looked at her team. "I can't do that though. I'll just turn back into a soldier here. If I'm here to learn to fight-" Pyrrha fought to keep her gaze on Ren, Nora and Jaune. "- I'll never be able to learn how to be a person. I'm sorry."

Nora suddenly stood up, surprising the group. "Pyrrha, you can be a person and a soldier. We don't want you to be just a fighter. We want you to be Pyrrha." Nora smiled slightly. "And I miss you being your old self. We're here for you, anytime of the day, any day of the week."

Ren got up and continued. "You've done well for months. If you've only now run into problems, well, that's a pretty good track record. We should have been with you last night, when you were in real trouble. We're sorry. I'm sorry."

Jaune nodded. "I'm sorry too." Nora repeated her friend's catchphrase. Pyrrha looked like she was either going to burst into tears or laughs.

"Would you really do that? For me?"

"Absolutely." Jaune wrapped his arms around Pyrrha, using his aura to lift her up. Pyrrha felt confidence, his confidence, run through her like fox after a hare. Nora jumped at the group hug, followed by an only slightly reluctant Ren.

Team JNPR was whole again.

"Hey, everyone!" Nora said in the group hug. "While we're here, me and Ren are in the Mob!"

"...Sure you are." Jaune and Pyrrha said.

They laughed.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that chapter was sweet. I'm trying my hand at more drama heavy stuff, but hey, tell me if I'm succeeding. As always, thanks to my editors Ttran2323 and H'te Rarpee. And of course, my salutations to Rooster teeth.**

**Please, review.**


	6. Chapter 6: Walk on the Wild Side

**RWBY: The Second Step**

**Chapter 6: Walk on the Wild Side**

**A/N: So ****a funny thing happened.**

**You see, the chapter posted here takes place, chronologically, the day after chapter 4 and 5, that is, Wednesday. However, this chapter was originally scheduled for release as chapter twelve. It was moved up, both to allow for some time to be spent with the actual team RWBY, and to improve the flow of the story. I may as well also note that this story has been centered primarily on team JNPR only because that team has the greatest number of undeveloped characters. The story will move on after they are done.**

**This chapter will focus with Team RWBY and specifically Blake, with Yang, Ruby and Weiss along for the ride. **

**And for those of you that want Bumblebee, let me assure you: Blake and Yang will hook up in a romantic way. Just not in the way you may think.**

**And on a side note, reading The Sin of Killing a Mockingbird before this chapter helps.**

**Disclaimer: um, yeaH. this StorY belongs to tHe AUThor. and my BESTEST friend Church!**

**Church: Alright, who let Caboose do the disclaimer? And for anyone wondering, Team VALR and specifically Argentina do not belong to the author. They are the property of Ttran2323. Additionally, Prof. Isaac belongs to H'te Rarpee.**

* * *

_(Tuesday Evening)_

_"Half Human - half Faunus children. Babies that shouldn't exist, outcasts from the Faunus for being 'that human's brat', outcasts from Humans for being Faunus. Children and babies that are unloved, alone-."_

_Ruby only just grabbed Blake in time to stop her from ripping Weiss's throat out. It was still a close thing though._

_"Oh, you may have a pretty song Mockingbird, but I think the gods will make an exception to the sin of killing you." Blake's smile was a textbook example of 'Slasher'. _

* * *

(_Wednesday_)

"Oh man oh man oh man oh man. Where is she?"

Ruby was presently doing her best to wear a hole in the floor of Team RWBY's dorm room, much to Weiss's private chagrin. Of course, neither she nor Yang could really blame her, as, for the second time in three weeks, Blake had disappeared. And, as it was last time, it was Weiss's fault.

"Oh, why did you have to do that Weiss? You know how Blake feels when you bring up Faunus." Ruby looked like she was going to cry out of concern for their missing teammate. Weiss had the decency to privilege that statement with an answer.

"What? I just gave her some advice. You don't need to crucify me over trying to help."

Yang raised an eyebrow from her position lounging on her bed. "You told her that half-Faunus children are alone and unloved."

Weiss spread her arms. "Exactly. Thank you Yang." Ignoring Yang's 'But I didn't agree with you,' Weiss went on. "Ruby, as the granddaughter of the Schnee Corporation head and heir to the same, I'm in the team's unique position to know exactly what I'm talking about in regards to half-Faunus."

"But what about, you know, the team's actual Faunus!?" Ruby asked. Weiss made no comment. "She's disappeared again now. Oh man, I hope she's alright."

Yang got off her bed and jumped down. "I think she'll be alright Ruby. This is Blake we're talking about. She fought off Roman Torchwick. She was part of the White Fang. She helped us take down a Nevermore. She'll be fine."

Ruby tried to articulate an answer, but only succeeded in making various noises, along with the discernible words of 'Not A Weekend' and 'Class'. Yang shrugged. "She can always make up classes. I take them with her."

"But classes start in one hour!"

"She'll be fine Rubes. Trust her."

Ruby dropped her arms to her side, looking thoroughly un-reassured. "It's just...the gravity of the situation. It's getting to me."

Weiss and Yang looked at Ruby, then each other, and then laughed. "Ruby, I don't know if you know, but between my sword, and your and Yang's guns, we laugh at gravity."

Yang kept giggling and had to lean against her bed for support. "Gravity, (hehe), wouldn't be caught dead near me."

Well, it's funny that she said that, cause right then, Gravity showed up.

And apparently, Gravity doesn't take well to beds stacked on books stacked on beds. Yang's bed fell over, Yang going with it.

Weiss and Ruby both sprang to help their fallen comrade and get her back on her feet, but when they did, Yang's only concern was for her bed. Specifically, all the magazines that had been underneath the mattress.

The three hadn't even started stacking them when Weiss actually saw the cover. "Guns and Ammo?" She pulled up another one. "Play girl!?" A third. "What the- Sexy time? Yang, what are you doing with porn in your bed!?" Ruby had the decency to drop the magazine she had picked up and turn a shade of red that she typically reserved for her cloak.

Yang, unconcerned by Weiss's condemnation, shrugged. "I like some light reading. Besides, that's not the problem. What are we going to do about my bed?"

Weiss pointed at the mess. "Forget your bed. That's not light reading. It's a porn stash. How have you been hiding this from everyone?"

"I don't see you searching Ruby's bed for porn. And that's not an invitation to!" Yang added the trailing exclamation to stop Weiss from digging through her sister's bed. "And I don't see what we're going to do with my bed." Yang directed the pair's gaze at her fallen bed, and for the first time, both saw that a large crack had split the bed in half, rendering it unusable.

"Where am I going to sleep?"

"That's not the point Yang! What are we going to do with all...this?" Weiss pointed at the magazines. "Unless you've forgotten, obscene materials are prohibited on school grounds. Ozpin and Goodwitch aren't just going to let this slide."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. They have better things to do with their time."

"Like what?"

"...Well I don't know. Teacher stuff. Paperwork. Personal training. Sleeping with each other. The point is, my bed is broken, and I am not sleeping on the floor."

Ruby took a moment from her embarrassment to chip in. "You could sleep in my bed Yang. We are sisters."

Yang grabbed her sister and trapped her in a bear hug. "I knew there was a reason I like you Ruby."

Weiss however was having a flash-forward of what exactly would occur if the two slept in the same bed. It involved creaking ropes and herself never getting a wink of sleep. "No. No. No no no. No. Shade no. No. No. I refu- no. No."

Yang and Ruby stared at her. Then: "So... your bed Ruby?"

Weiss's eyebrow twitched. "Fine. Yang, you can sleep in my bed."

Yang cheered, though Ruby groaned. Of course, no one brought up Yang sleeping in Blake's bed for two good reasons. The first was that Black and Yellow do not go together, unless you're a Bumblebee. The second was that no one wanted to sleep with Blake after what the team had all deemed The Cat Nap Incident.

Of course, the end of the conversation heralded the return of Ruby's worrying about Blake, something that Weiss found annoying and Yang figured was endearing. As the hour dragged on though, Team RWBY was forced to admit that Blake simply wasn't going to show up in their room, and changed into their uniforms for their first advanced Dust class.

* * *

The class was soon in session. Team RWBY, JNPR and CRDL were all in attendance, along with several others. A handful of women were eyeing Ren and Jaune, obviously wondering why they had been so attracted to the men deemed "Only Handsome."

Professor Goodwitch was also eyeing Team JNPR, but seemed more engaged in their interactions. The other teacher, Professor Isaac of Aura studies, was busy setting up and loading a chain gun on a podium. Neither made any particular effort to control the crowd, but seemed to exude an air of control that hemmed in the students. Finally, as Team FAIL raced in on the heels of the bell, Isaac began. "Whom here can tell me why Dust is such an important part of our society?"

The class was silent.

"Anyone? Anyone at all?" Isaac scanned the room and attendees. "Can anyone tell me why Dust, and not coal, or oil, or methane is responsible for catalyzing the growth of civilization on Remnant?"

Jaune raised his hand. After Isaac called him on it, he said, "Is it because we can use Dust in bullets?"

Isaac looked at Jaune and considered his answer. "No. Good answer, but no." Isaac climbed onto the podium he had assembled the chain gun on, swung it around to point at Jaune, and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked, like it wasn't loaded. "Dust remains the only material on the face of Remnant that reacts solely to Aura. To fire your weapons, to fire any weapon that uses Dust as a propellant or weapon, you must first pass your Aura through the weapon or tool you carry."

Isaac stepped down and Goodwitch continued. "The inability for Dust to become chemically active when burned, melted, detonated with non-dust explosives, or when sonically induced has enabled it to become the premier energy source on Remnant. It can be handled safely by civilians and transported without danger of chemical decay or ignition. Following attacks by Grimm, entire rail cars can be salvaged containing dust. This property of inertness unless exposed to Aura-"

"Or a sneeze." Ruby murmured, to Yang's entertainment.

"-along with Dusts unique elemental properties, allows Dust to be the perfect weapon against the Grimm. Additionally, because only trained hunters with activated Aura can use Dust weapons, common criminals are incapable of harming civilians with them. Dust is, quite simply, a brilliant tool."

"Yeah, brilliantly annoying." Muttered Jaune. So that was why he couldn't use any guns when he had been searching for a weapon to take to Beacon. If he had known that earlier, he wouldn't be stuck with just a sword and shield, he'd have something like that chain-gun.

"Now, here we will be focusing on Dust combinations today. We will also be allowing a live demonstration of the applications of Dust."

Goodwitch started going down the list of known Dust elements: Fire, Earth, Wind, Acid, Ice, Water, Lightning and Energy, along with the most simplistic combinations, Air and Ice for gravity manipulation, Fire and Earth for barrier lock, Earth and Lightning for detonation, so on and so forth.

"Now, we've discovered many practical applications for Dust, alongside combat. Can anyone tell me what they are?"

A hand went up among team VALR. "We use them to make dirigibles fly."

"One of the simpler applications, yes. Any others?"

"Mining?"

Goodwitch nodded, keeping a passive look on her face, but otherwise very annoyed. No one was asking questions or trying to add anything to the conversation. She could see that no one wanted to be proven wrong and make themselves a fool, but they wouldn't learn if they never spoke up. Another hand went up. "Yes?"

"We use Lightning and Fire Dust to generate electricity and power most mechanical applications we use, instead of the old hand cranked methods from before the discovery of Dust."

Goodwitch nodded in agreement, but Team RWBY had stopped paying attention midway through the speech. "Blake! You came back!" Ruby evoked her Aura so thoroughly that she nearly teleported to Blake, and glomped her. "Where you been?"

"Oh, you know. Here and there. Hey Yang." Blake smiled at her teammate. "What I miss?"

"We broke Yang's bed!" Ruby was still glued to Blake, but the Faunus girl wasn't particularly mindful. "We're sorry about what Weiss said." Blake just waved it off. It wasn't her thing to apologize for.

"Ahem."

The reunited Team RWBY shared a confused look, (well, not Weiss) and turned to look at Prof. Goodwitch. And the rest of the class, which was currently staring at them in a sense of general disbelief. "Team RWBY, while you may think life is some sort of... television melodrama focused on you, I can assure you, it is not. Now please, settle down and return to your seats."

Yang and Ruby reluctantly returned to their table with Weiss, who was trying to look like she had never met them in her entire life. Blake rolled her eyes and went back to absorbing the lesson and taking notes. Goodwitch wrapped up her dissertation of Dust combo's and turned the class over to Isaac.

"Now, Dust has a number if properties that we don't quite understand. Certain strains of Dust react better to people with certain Aura's and Semblances. Additionally, we have been able to use Semblances to manipulate dust in unique ways. Formics, Metaburners, Polari, these people can all use their semblances to organize dust into different forms. Now, my roster sheet says that we have four Formics in class. May Russell Thrush please step forward."

Russell went down to the front of the classroom. "Please demonstrate a simple Formic glyph Russell."

Can't."

"As you can…what?"

"I don't use my semblance for Dust." Russell's Aura formed around him and became armor. "See."

"Well, this format for a Formic can still be put to good use as auto armor. Please take your seat Mister Thrush." Isaac turned back to the class. "Alright, may Miss Scarlatina come forward."

Velvet was down in front of the class in a moment, trying not to hyperventilate. Prof. Isaac asked her to create a basic Dust glyph. In a second, a white ring, with three entangled rings inside it, formed in the air. Isaac pointed at the construct. "This is a simple glyph. All glyphs are, in essence, shaped charges that detonate dust in specific ways to achieve specific results. This varies from, well, perhaps we can just have a demonstration of their applications, someone I haven't called on, please come forward."

The only other Formic in the room, Argentina, did a spectacular impression of disappearing, even though she wasn't a camo. Weiss tried not to look too reluctant.

"Please demonstrate the use of Dust seekers Miss Schnee." Goodwitch commanded. Weiss pulled Myrtenaster from its sheath and switched to the ice-water Dust mixture. Sweeping the blade in an arc, Dust evaporated from the tip and dispersed into the air. Several glyphs formed and absorbed the Dust and with a sudden jerk of compression, the Dust ignited, sending the seekers flying at the door. A blast later, the Dust seekers dissolved into icicles.

"Very good miss Schnee. Now, we all know that Formics can shape Dust, but one of the other Semblances, Polarity, can also manipulate Dust with ease, though the complexities of movement do limit their effectiveness." Goodwitch continued through the lesson, with Weiss, as always, taking notes while Ruby goofed off and drew large explosions and Yang calculated a new Dust mixture she could use to add lightning to Ember Celica's blasts without electrocuting herself again. Blake herself was lost in thought, thanking about what she had done last night...

* * *

_(Tuesday Night)_

_Sun Wukong sat in utter silence. Around him, an array of candles and incense burned a mellow smell into the empty room. The flames puckered and pulsed to the rhythm of his Aura. Slowly, his heart rate dropped. His awareness dimmed out. His Aura expanded beyond his body, pushing out and engulfing the whole room. Slowly, Sun returned his Aura to his body, his soul returning to it's cradle. With a single breath, Sun expanded his Aura as inner peace brought complete control to his mind. His Aura grew, and grew, and grew until it completely encompassed the warehouse he was calling home. With a final push, Sun molded his Aura into it's semblance, his sensor semblance enabling him to see all, to know all within the building._

_Okay, nothing quite that dramatic, but still pretty awesome. It was an exhilarating feeling, being able to see not just what was in front of him, but an entire building in three hundred and sixty degrees of X-ray vision. It was sweet._

_It also let him see the ninja-cat that was making its way through the rafters. "Hey Blake."_

_Said ninja-cat nearly fell out of the roof. "How did you...?"_

_"The same way I found you the first time we met. I saw you." Sun shut off his semblance, stood up from the circle of candles and looked up at the black-clad girl. "Well, welcome to my humble abode. What can I do you for?"_

_Blake untangled herself from the maze of support beams and electrical wires and leapt down to the monkey boy. "Nothing. I just wanted to get away from it all."_

_"'It all' being your team right?" Sun brought his semblance up and examined Blake. Pain, annoyance, a touch of fear, all were fighting for supremacy on her pretty little face. That she kept said pretty face under such tight lock spoke volumes, either for years of training, or sociopathy._

_It was probably the training._

_"Oh, come on Sun, let's just go already." Blake grabbed Sun's hand and led him out of the warehouse. Under the cold night sky, neither needed to worry about missing anything in the dark. Both were suitably equipped to deal with the shadows. "So where first?"_

_Sun scratched his head. "Well, there's this dance club up a few blocks from here." Blake smiled._

_"Lead the way Sun."_

_The pair navigated the alleys with ease born of either long practice moving through alleys in general or firsthand knowledge of the area around the warehouse. Both were soon in the club quite aptly named The Bears Den._

_Inside, the place was rocking out to the beats of From Shadows (remixed) and the pulsing lights of the dance floor and the many bodies crowding it. Sun was soon deeply immersed in the crush of bodies, bobbing and weaving with the ability that saved his life against Roman Torchwick. Blake herself was soon listening to fascinating story of how a guy had tried to storm the building with over one hundred gang members._

_The account itself was rather thrilling, with sexy ladies and badass guys, all apparently fighting valiantly against a force ten-times the size of the defenders. All true of it completely true and believable as well. Or at least that was what the various suck ups arrayed around the obviously drunk bar owner were all saying._

_"And then, and then, and this guy props up and starts trying tah, tah, tah hit me. Yeah." The owner, Junior Xiong, knocked back another glass of whiskey. "We started ballin. He like, tried punching me. I grab him and pull out his, heir? Hair. He looses it and starts burnin up dah dance floor." Junior chuckled at his own joke, and the rest followed suit. Blake rolled her eyes, sneaking a video recording of the exchange on her scroll. It would be pretty funny to see it again later._

_Sun stepped off of the dance and grabbed Blake. "Come on. We're here, let's boogie." And completely ignoring his spectacularly out of date vocabulary, Sun proceeded to drag his friend into the fray and dance. Honestly, between the weirdness and the dancing, Blake decided that she'd sit this one out._

_Sun finally decided that the dancing wasn't working, and offered to treat Blake to some dinner. The caveat to the offer was this: Seafood. Maybe with Tuna, and I'll pay. "When did you find the money to pay for that sort of thing anyway?"_

_Sun smiled a little and winked. Blake was properly scandalized, but decided that if Sun was willing to stow away on a ship, he was willing to deal with the consequences of his actions._

_The place he took her to actually wasn't all that bad. Nice clam chowder and some amazing breaded tuna. It also happened to be a filled to the gills with crabbers. At least a dozen were switching stories about how they'd almost died out on the sea. One, whom the discussion soon revealed to be named Sig Hanson, was happy to give Blake and Sun the graphic details of why King Crab fishing was the only job on the planet that allowed its workers to legally activate Aura._

_Of course, all good things come to an end, and that end was when Sun said, "So, how's everything going with Weiss? She still think I'm a rapscallion?"_

_Blake didn't meet his gaze. "Can we please not talk about this."_

_Sun shrugged. "Honestly, I think that confronting a problem before it festers into something crazy and terrible is a great policy for life."_

_Blake took another bite of the clam chowder. It was really good chowder, made with biscuit bits instead of potatoes. "And if I don't want to talk to you about it?"_

_Sun shrugged. "Then I'll talk at you about it and eventually, you'll decide that I'm right and start listening. Look, whatever Weiss or Ruby or Yang said, they probably didn't mean it."_

_Blake popped another spoonful of chowder into her mouth._

_"And running away from the problem won't solve it."_

_Blake choked. Sun helpfully thumped her on the back and waited for her reply. It went something like this:_

_"I didn't run away!"_

_Sun held up a finger. "You left your friends after something went wrong once before." Another finger went up. "You wanted to party, and avoid thinking about it." A third finger joined the first two. "And throughout the entire night, you didn't mention your team once."_

_The three fingers snapped together and pointed at Blake. "You ran away. You figured that sticking with me would solve your problems like it did when your friends found out you were a Faunas, so you came to me instead of trying to fix your problem yourself. Quod Erat Demonstrandum."_

_Blake glared at her friend. "Quod Erat Demonstrandum isn't how you end an argument. You need to prove your point through a demonstration to use Q.E.D."_

_Sun took his glass and gestured with it. "You didn't say I was wrong."_

_Blake wouldn't look at him. "I'm not running away again."_

_Sun thought about it, then said, "Prove me wrong then. Go back to Beacon and solve your problem like a normal person, instead of waiting for something crazy to come along and do it for you. I know you can do it Blake."_

_Blake ate another spoonful of chowder. Then some of the breaded Tuna. The bar had filled itself a little more since they had arrived. Apparently another Crabber, the Cornelia Marie, had just finished uploading its haul of King crab and the fishermen were celebrating. "Can it wait until tomorrow?"_

_Sun took a sip of his water. "I guess so. You have classes, right?" At Blake's nod, he decided that reconciliation could wait a little. "Hey, barkeep."_

_The barkeep groaned, and for the umpteenth time wished that someone would call him by his name of-_

_"Next round for the fishermen, it's on me."_

_A cheer erupted from the fishermen. Sun smirked at the noise, and then realized something._

_"Hey, Blake. Were you running from your problems, or running to a solution?"_

_Blake bent over her chowder and kept eating._

* * *

Blake was snapped out of her thoughts by the bell. Most of the class was starting to pack up. With a bit of trepidation, Blake made her move. As her team tried to ambush her again, Blake slipped a note into Weiss's book bag.

If Sun wanted her to reconcile, then she'd reconcile.

Not that she'd like it.

* * *

_Meet me on the roof of our dorms tonight._

_-B_

* * *

Weiss starred at the piece of paper again, then at the door to the roof. Classes were over, the sun had set, and she had finished studying for the night. Blake had gone back to the room with her, Ruby and Yang, and she had said she was okay, but Weiss could smell the bullshit she was shoveling them. Of course, she could also see that Blake at least wanted to be civil.

Granted, she still tried to attack her, but Weiss was willing to listen to her reasoning behind it. She was certain the former White Fang member was willing to negotiate.

About as certain about that as she was certain it would one day rain gravel.

But Weiss was as prepared to fight Blake as she was to listen to Blake. She why was she apprehensive about this again?

'_Okay Weiss, just open the door. You're the heir to the Schnee Dust company, you've trained to fight the Faunas for years. You can do this!'_ And with that little pep talk ringing in her head, Weiss threw open the door, came striding out, opened her mouth...

...and was greeted with a complete lack of Blake.

"I've been stood up."

"No, you just don't know how to look behind you." Weiss nearly jumped out of her skin,as Blake closed the door to the roof. Weiss reached for Myrtenaster.

"How did you...?"

"You neglected to check behind the door. Not that you should have, it's a little too paranoid for someone like you." Blake leaned against the door, blocking Weiss's way out. "I think we both know why we're up here."

"You want to fight?" Weiss provided. Blake just gave her a blank stare and stepped aside from the door, leaving it open for Weiss to exit through. Weiss rolled her eyes. "Okay, we're up here to glare at each other, or you want to make up."

Blake nodded once. Weiss inhaled once and let it out, long and slow. "I'm not saying I'm sorry for giving you advice, but I don't expect you to apologize for trying to attack me."

"I'm sorry." Blake interrupted. Weiss almost growled. Almost.

"Well, I'm not." Weiss's face was twitching. "Unlike you, I was raised in to be the heir to a multi-million Lien corporation, and as such, I was taught all the ways people consciously and unconsciously organize themselves. And throughout it, the one way that almost every single group would orient themselves was against the other. Men and women, old and young, Faunus and Human. And here's something that I wasn't taught. Faunus may think that Humans are monsters, and Humans may think Faunus are animals, but they both think that Halflings are freaks. People don't want them. Their friends all think they're normal humans until they hit thirteen, when their Faunus features start growing. Faunus think they're all entitled little Humans that think they belong with them." Weiss stopped and took a deep breath. "Look, what I'm saying is that if you make that choice, they will never live it down. They may have you and their father, but they will always..." Weiss's momentum petered out. "You already know this. What do you want?"

Blake stared off into the dark night. "You say that we can't live together, that the distinction between Faunus and Human will always exist. What the White Fang was founded for was the idea of coequality, of unity against the Grimm. And, you know, I think that we might be able to do that. You treat people, you treated me, by the same standards that you treat everyone." Blake stopped smiling. "You hate everyone the same. You're lonely, and everyone that tries to get close to you is kicked away. You don't like me, and your only friends are Ruby and Yang, right?"

Weiss looked out to where Blake was starring. The stars twinkled beautifully in the backdrop of the deep sky. "Yang and Ruby are infuriating, annoying, and more then a little crazy. And they are the first people in my life that have asked me to be their friend without a single ulterior motive." Weiss groaned and sat down on the ledge of the roof. Blake soon joined her. "You don't like me and I don't like you. We tolerate each other until we can't, and that's all there is to our relation."

Blake looked at Weiss. "So, you're saying that, one way or the other, we can never be friends."

Weiss gave Blake a side long glance. "Pretty much. We're two people from completely opposite worlds Blake. We could chain ourselves together and lock ourselves in a closet for three days, and we'd still wouldn't be any closer to friendship the we are right now."

Weiss went back to looking off into the starry night. "I'm not sorry, only because I wanted to help you. The one thing I can say is that, one way or the other, we're stuck in the same team for a whole year. We'll just have to deal with each other for the time being."

Blake thought about it, the crossed her arms behind her head and fell back. "An agreement to disagree. Never being friends. Lets throw in shutting up when we get into an argument, and it'll work for me."

"Me two." Weiss stood up and left the roof. Blake sighed, and left after her.

They'd never be friends...

...but at least they'd never be enemies. For now, that was enough.

* * *

**A/N: I guess that Blake and Weiss will never quite work it out between them, but they can settle for being quiet whenever the issue of the Faunus arises. These two are in for a very strange ride in my story.**

**Please, read and review.**


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